MARK MOLDRE – THE WAITING ROOM
- Author:
- Aidan Roberts
- Posted:
- Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Mark Moldre is a slow-burning songwriter. Having been around the traps for a long time, collaborating and playing with his close friend Jamie Hutchings and the extended Hutchings siblings, he has turned out a really nice debut record. Moldre’s songs are of a similar bent to Hutchings’; rambling, taking reverence in the forlorn and wresting in spare, dark folky arrangements. Whereas his cohort has built a career around fractured and explosive observations on urban life and general tension, Mark’s songs live more in the memory of things, evoking sounds and sentiments from his childhood days and his parents’ record collection. The Buzzing of Bees introduces us to his world with some gently braying Tibetan gongs and mildewy guitar ambiance. His husky earnesty is delivered with heart suitably nailed to his sleeve. Single In This Life shows off the crystalline upper register of Mark’s honest voice, evoking the melodic melodrama of Knievel or early Youth Group. There are some really cool sounds throughout – Moldre uses sequenced percussion and some Sparklehorse-like record loops, and the shoegazey indie groove of Ferris Wheel provides the much needed spike amongst the more meandering moments. It’s all well-rounded, you can tell he’s taken his time putting this together. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
***1/2
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Story posted on Tuesday, 11 May 2010, filed under CD Reviews. Follow responses via the RSS feed.
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