We Speak Music
Nick Mulvey releases live album ‘Dark Harvest Live’
There’s something quietly radical about Nick Mulvey. His songs don’t shout for attention, yet they demand it. His music has always felt like a slow-burning invitation, to listen more closely, to step outside the noise, to feel, even when it’s hard. In a world brimming with distraction he cuts through, offering something rare: music that is unafraid to go deep.
With his most recent albums, ‘Dark Harvest Pt.1’ and ‘Dark Harvest Pt.2’, released via his own Supernatural Records label, Mulvey finds himself in a new state of artistic independence and empowerment. The albums saw Mulvey working alongside a cast of world-class collaborators, including the legendary producer Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Paolo Nutini), the boundary-pushing Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins), and the globally renowned Parisi Brothers (Ed Sheeran, Fred Again) and were born out of the catharsis of a tough few years that Mulvey has undergone recently in his personal life.
“For me Dark Harvest Pt.1 tracks the descent and grief that hit me in the last three years, during the losses and challenges I faced”, Mulvey explains. “Often brutal, these years have tenderised me, as I know they have others. Making this music carried me through. Dark Harvest Pt.2 is the first fruits after a deep winter, songs that tell of a new creation and a clarified faith”, he further reveals.
The next phase of this process is ‘Dark Harvest Live’, a gorgeous live offering. The album captures what anyone who has seen Nick Mulvey live will recognise, the feeling of a room that has briefly, genuinely, become one thing. With his ability to weave an experience that is felt as much as it is heard, his live performances don’t just entertain, they transcend to create a chorus of unity, a communion of sound and feeling. Through his intricate guitar figures, that seem to spiral endlessly and serve as a vehicle for his words, few artists so seamlessly bridge the sacred and the everyday.
“Dark Harvest is about surrender and what grows after the breaking. These live recordings are that same journey, only with an audience in the room sharing it. I’m proud of these shows. Something was working and I wanted there to be a recording of it. I’m feeling fortunate that I get to go out in May and do it all over again“, says Mulvey.
Mulvey’s music carries the poetic weight of Leonard Cohen, the introspective fragility of Nick Drake, and the hypnotic, polyrhythmic pulse of West African guitar masters like Ali Farka Touré. From his early days studying ethnomusicology in London, to guitar in Havana and then onto co-founding the Mercury-nominated Portico Quartet, Mulvey’s journey has never been conventional. His shimmering debut solo album, ‘First Mind’ (2014), established him as a standout force in modern music—earning him a second Mercury Prize nomination and acclaim for his hypnotic, finger-picked guitar work and deeply poetic lyricism. His follow-up, ‘Wake Up Now’ (2017), expanded his sonic and thematic scope, weaving global rhythms, environmental consciousness, and a call for collective awakening into anthems of hope and action. With ‘New Mythology’ (2022), Mulvey delved further still into the spiritual and mythic dimensions of songcraft, delivering compositions that felt at once ancient and urgent, intimate and universal.
Onstage Nick’s journey has taken him from sell out European and US solo tours to The Pyramid stage at Glastonbury and London’s The Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo. Offstage, Mulvey is a devoted father of two, recently returned to the UK after years living abroad, and quietly in the middle of one of the most creatively fertile periods of his life.
Swiss artist Fanny Alexandra returns with “Black Pearl Summer”, a new single that finds her exploring a more open side of her alternative sound. Released via Now Listen, the track combines coastal imagery with a story about growing through grief, pressure and the experiences that can shape a person over time.
Alexandra notes that the song is relatively summery by her own standards. She has said that her music is usually darker and that she has never been particularly drawn to the typical idea of summer, preferring cold air, jackets and rugged coastlines. That gives the release a clear sense of personality from the outset.
The song centres on Alexandra’s reflections on being 19 and spending years focused on survival rather than fully living. Those experiences are presented through the image of a black pearl, which becomes a way of considering how something worthwhile can emerge from a challenging period.
What makes the track particularly effective is the balance between its subject matter and its musical approach. The production gives the song room to breathe, while Alexandra keeps the focus firmly on the story she is telling. It means the track can be enjoyed as a seasonal release while still offering more to discover in the lyrics.
There is also a clear sense of change in the way Alexandra approaches her younger self. The song is not about returning to that period or trying to erase it. Instead, it considers what can be learned from experiences that once felt overwhelming.
“Black Pearl Summer” therefore offers newcomers a useful introduction to Alexandra’s work. It shows an artist comfortable writing about serious subjects, while also demonstrating a lighter musical side that may not be as familiar to listeners who know her darker material.
It is an interesting glimpse of what Alexandra can do when she lets a little more light into the picture.
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