I’m not going to lie – when I first heard the description of the new Mull Historical Society album, I didn’t know what to think: “Mull Historical Society (Colin MacIntyre) teams-up with an array of highly acclaimed names from the world of literature on his conceptual new album…MacIntyre posed each of them the challenge of writing about a room that has played a significant part in their lives.“ I had never heard of MHS before, and when reading through the contributors (Ian Rankin, Nick Hornby, Jacqueline Wilson, Val McDermid, Jennifer Clement (‘Widow Basquiat’), Booker-winning Sebastian Barry, 2021 US National Book Award-winner Jason Mott, plus two Scottish poet laureates’ in Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead), only Hornby’s name rang a bell. My initial thought was this was going to be some stuffy, overly-heady type of avant-garde art rock with spoken-word interludes.
Then I listened to the delightful first track, “Not Enough Sorry”, and I realized I was way off. MacIntyre’s inviting vocals and warm, indie pop arrangements make the song entirely accessible and quite whimsical. The next track “1952” barges out the door with an insistent guitar riff, and MacIntyre belting out “I like being in this room. I like being on my own” as a statement of strength. Knowing the assignment MacIntyre gave the various writers who contributed to the songs, what impresses most is how MacIntyre sells these personal stories as his own. He inhabits the narrators’ emotional POV as he sings, and finds the perfect musical tones for these songs.
While the concept about rooms is used literally in some songs, at other times it comes across as a poignant metaphor. When MacIntyre sings “In my mind there’s a room that’s not being used” on “Wake Up Sally”, in conjures feelings of wasted potential and ambitions left to rot. Of course, as each song features contributions from different writers, there is plenty of room for interpretation about each track’s meaning, but the songs manage to find connections that inspire listeners to seek out this meaning. The melancholy “The Red Flame Diner”, which sounds like a lost Radiohead song, feels like the soundtrack to a lonely night, a writer eating dinner by themselves in a diner as it rains outside. The cinematic quality of the music allows this imagery to spin out and grow, and evolve as the song does, becoming more life-affirming and empowering as it moves towards its conclusion.
The great “Panicked Feathers” is an uplifting indie rock anthem that keeps building and building in energy, as the lyrics paint nostalgic memories. “Kelshabeg” is a piano-led choral pop track with some operatic vocals contributed and a bit of spoken word (so okay, there’s a bit of heady, art rock music on the album, but rarely does it go so far as to make the songs pretentious). While folks who love NPR and bands like The Decemberists, The Weakerthans and Belle and Sebastien will adore this album, it also has enough endearing melodies and heartfelt storytelling to catch the ear of an everyday music fan.
Heck, songs like “My Bedroom Was My Rocket” is a track even your kids could jam out to. You can listen to Mull Historical Society‘s In My Mind There’s a Room here and hear for yourself!
The Indy Review 