Enda Mulloy’s debut studio album is a torrent of emotional country and folk rock that’s laden with passionate vocals, words, beats, and a larger-than-life charm that made it immediately easy to fall for.
Enda Mulloy is a Mulranny-based singer and songwriter from Ireland whose sound on his latest album, titled ‘Notions in Midlife Crisis’, comes across as rich, warm, and heartfelt. An emotional handful, the songs on ‘Notions in Midlife Crisis’ are covered with sparkling guitars, booming drums, serene and expansive pads, among other less prominent elements. The album is primarily populated with Travis-inspired melodic vocal lines that live on top of relatively simplistic musical bases. A formula that’s tried and true, proving once again that music need not be anything more than a comforting base with a sweet melody on top and relatable poetry, and Enda Mulloy’s work on this album follows this formula to the letter.
10 songs long, the album starts with a standout stunner, the hit single ‘The Bridge out of your Heart’. An apt introduction to the sound of Enda Mulloy, his lyricisms, his distinct voice, and his heartfelt delivery. Rich with a healthy, heavy-handed drum performance, the song is powerful, loud, and emotive. High-octane with its crash-heavy beats and wailing vocal harmonies, the song is a sublime introduction. The album’s second cut ‘A Message from Stephen (Carry me Home)’ might be its most gorgeous. Triumphant, the song’s pronounced melodies and more skeletal verse arrangement, with a distinct guitar line, paves the way for an endlessly vibrant chorus that sounds victorious and grand with its group chants saying “Carry me Home” in one of the album’s most unforgettable passages. ‘Grey and Iconic’ follows. Another spectacularly heartfelt piece of songwriting, the song boasts a memorable beat and a bustling chorus that uses elements borrowed from shoegaze, beautifully incorporating the buzzing rhythm strums into the chorus’s stunning progression.
‘Trouble’, featuring Gráinne Fahy’s voice, is the album’s only feature, and it is beautifully done, again with a memorable hook. This song ventures out into a left-field middle eight section that willfully modulates and warps the song’s key, creating one of the album’s more harmonically interesting sections. The dazzling guitar arrangement on ‘I Won’t Die Wondering’ showcases Mulloy’s spectacular ear for layering guitars, crafting in the process one of the most immersive cuts on the whole album, filled with memorable riffs and lines, and a lively beat, supporting Mulloy’s relatively subdued vocals. An immediate stand-out offering.
Notions in Midlife Crisis is a totally musically wholesome offering from a sublime talent who has been subject to musical success since his early teenage years. Since Mulloy toured the United States at 14-years old with his father and uncles as a part of The Mulloy Brothers, he has been honing a terrific eye and heart for a good melody and a catchy hook, which we see passionately poured onto his debut album. Notions in Midlife Crisis is a soft, warm musical embrace.
