You’d think he’d be happy after his debut album, released last year, received a fair amount of recognition on the back of being featured by HMV as the ‘next big thing’, and at the ripe old age of 50, breaking through with not one but two UK tours and still having he creative energy to write and record album number two ready for release less than twelve months after ‘Nearly Man’ hit the shelves. But is Mike Marlin happy? It doesn’t sound like it.
From the downbeat, world-weary lead single ‘The Magician’ which raises the curtain on the album, Marlin may have discovered an ear for the sweeping and the majestic, but he’s certainly not taken to singing of the joys of life as he growls his way through a set of acoustic-led reflections tinged with sadness, melancholy and disappointment (as if a song entitled ‘Hymn to Disappointment isn’t enough of a clue to the nature of the singer’s disposition).
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‘Left Behind’ finds Marlin’s trudging guitar augmented with some delicate strings that lift the sound but clearly not Marlin’s jaded spirit as he growls his way through lines about loss, death and decay. Even the more upbeat, radio-friendly drive-time MOR chug of ‘This Town’ which sees Marlin find contentment – or entrapment – the grizzled troubadour’s tone is less than chirpy, with undertones of grouchy.
Yet for all of this, I can’t help but admire the man because he clearly hasn’t let his long-awaited success go to his head, and he expresses his dissatisfaction and disillusionment so eloquently. ‘Man on the Ground’ won’t have anyone dancing round the room, but for moments of quiet reflection, it’s definitely well suited.
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