Music: Nick Mulvey

The former Portico Quartet member and now Mercury Music Prize nominated singer songwriter talks to Jeff Hemmings

It’s always interesting to see someone make a radical career move and come up trumps. In this case, Nick Mulvey has seamlessly migrated from being a member of the mellow jazzy grooves outfit and Mercury Music Prize nominees Portico Quartet to being a singer songwriter in his own right, and once again the recipient of a Mercury Music Prize nomination in the form of his debut album.

“I’m in Montreal right now, touring in North America for a couple of weeks,” says Nick over the phone; a bit bleary eyed, it sounds, as it’s just gone 9am over there. “I haven’t done that before here, but it’s been really really good, although the hardest part is the distance between gigs. I’m touring with a band called Slow Club, who are really nice, and funny.
“I left Portico in May 2011.

I was playing the ‘hang’ drum; it looks like a wok … Portico’s music was completely instrumental; I wasn’t singing, writing or playing the guitar with that band. It became quite frustrating. Initially for the first two or three years it was everything I wanted. I’m a very versatile musician, and I play a lot of instruments, and it was completely in tune with the many aspects of what I was as a musician. But, that can only last so long, and ultimately I wanted to return to the guitar. It became very frustrating.”

Now a fully fledged singer songwriter in his own right, Mulvey continues to deal with the offbeat tones, ambient textures and rhythms that were the hallmark of his previous band, but coupled with an unorthodox playing style and the ability to write great songs, it has seen him quickly develop a distinct style.

“It was always the plan to do what I do now. It was the reason I left. If I had some time and space, I knew things would unfold for me.

“I learnt Cuban guitar before Portico. People often focus on this, but the key to it is that I had a very big range of influences, like Zimbabwean, West African stuff.

I went to Cuba to study music because of the African influences that exist there. I have an inclination towards rhythm and intricate playing with lots of layers [he cites Malian band Tinariwen as a big influence] and it’s all done very instinctively. And I responded to that when I heard others doing it.”

With a couple of EPs under his belt,for the highly regarded Communion label (set up by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett, and affiliated to the Island label), his debut album First Mind was released in May of this year to great acclaim and a top ten placing in the album charts, and has recently been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (the winner will be announced on 29 October). “It’s very nice to be nominated twice! I haven’t noticed much of a change to my life as I’ve been home hardly at all but it’s great to see the music connecting.”

Komedia, Monday 20 October, 8.30pm, £12.50