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Reviews

Sacha Mullin — Casino Wilderness Period
(Dog & Pony DAP15, 2023, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-12-29

Casino Wilderness Period Cover art

Sacha Mullin continues his exploration of artistic pop music on Casino Wilderness Period, presenting ten finely crafted gems of intelligent and varied music. Stylistically, it is very much of a piece with Duplex (2017), with sophisticated musical settings, evocative lyrics, and unpredictable melodies. The opening track, “Arranging Flowers,” starts things out nicely, and while it’s hard to call it “rock,” the furious drum part definitely moves it out of the realm of mainstream pop. The core of the arrangement rests on piano, and there are very prominent backing vocal parts supporting the main line. A listener who is unfamiliar with Mullin’s work will most react with “Damn, this guy can sing!” He’s got a good range, especially strong in the higher register, and a tasty vibrato that he doesn’t overuse. His enunciation is crisp without seeming stiff. I can’t think of any other male singers to compare him to, but a female equivalent might be Happy Rhodes or even Adele, though Mullin’s songs are nothing like either of them would do. Every song is a finely crafted gem, and at the end of the album we get two unexpected turns. “Love Sisyphean” features electric guitar prominently, definitely drifting into more rocking territory — and it’s a great song even aside from that. And it finishes with “Power!” and a throbbing synthesizer bass part and some ominous vocal tones. This is a wonderfully original song that reminds me a little of something 10cc could have done around the time of The Original Soundtrack, or Godley and Creme around L. Casino Wilderness Period is a highly creative musical effort, and deserves to be heard by those who love good songwriting and great singing.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Sacha Mullin

More info
http://sachamullin.bandcamp.com/album/casino-wilderness-period

 

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