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.
We Speak Music
The Songs of Butler & Cupples Prioritise Craft on Intimate New Single ‘Better off Lost’
Following the momentum of their first three breakout releases earlier this year, genre-fluid project The Songs of Butler & Cupples have returned with ‘Better off Lost’. A stripped-back, intimate offering that further sharpens their songcraft-first ethos, the release reinforces the duo’s position as one of the most forward-thinking, emerging songwriting projects operating outside the traditional band framework.
Conceived entirely as a vehicle where pure songcraft remains the central focus, The Songs of Butler & Cupples was formed in direct response to a contemporary music landscape increasingly shaped by image, algorithms, and visual perception rather than musical composition.
Led by two highly experienced industry songwriters, the project is intentionally fluid. It allows musical ideas to dictate their own final form without being restricted by rigid genre conventions or commercial chart expectations. With ‘Better off Lost’, the pair turn inward, embracing an acoustic-led direction underpinned by Americana-leaning textures and delicate, emotive vocal arrangements.
Sonically, the track marks a further evolution in their rapidly expanding creative palette. Built around a gentle acoustic guitar foundation, ‘Better off Lost’ foregrounds vulnerability and vocal performance above all else. The raw emotional delivery is elevated by subtle, layered harmonies and understated pop sensibilities that give the track its modern, polished edge.
The duo’s stylistic range has already drawn comparisons to boundary-pushing artists such as Miley Cyrus and Kacey Musgraves, whose recent celebrated works have helped reframe contemporary Americana within the broader pop landscape. Like those icons, Butler & Cupples demonstrate a versatile range that fiercely resists easy categorization.
Across their 2026 discography, they have proven comfortable shifting between entirely different sonic worlds, including: Electronic-Leaning Production: Utilising sleek, modern digital textures. Experimental & Rock Influence: Embracing grittier, guitar-driven edge and unpredictable structures. Acoustic Minimalism: As heard on the new single, proving that a strong emotional through-line remains intact regardless of the instrumentation.
Rather than chasing viral TikTok trends or tailoring their masters for playlist algorithms, the project remains deeply rooted in strong structural songwriting, genuine emotional resonance, and absolute creative freedom.
At its core, The Songs of Butler & Cupples functions as an open creative framework without built-in limitations or outside expectations. ‘Better off Lost’ stands as another clear statement of intent from the duo: that well-crafted songs, when given proper breathing room and unfiltered honesty, still possess the power to cut through the modern noise.
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