USX violinist, Meghan Mulhearn’s heady solo outing, DIVINE CIRCLES, is currently spreading their ethereal dark folk across the US on a short run of live rituals alongside Elisa Faires.
DIVINE CIRCLES will be performing hymns from latest full-length, Oblivion Songs. Called “absorbing and subtle,” by The Onion’s AV Club, on Oblivion Songs Mulhearn manifests a wholly engrossing collection of intimate and experimental songcraft filtered through the Appalachian dusk. Released late last year via UK-based Paradigms Recordings, the offering was recorded at Fahrenheit Studio with Travis Kammeyer (A Storm of Light, USX, Generation of Vipers, This Mountain, Ocoai), mastered by James Plotkin (OLD, Scorn, Khanate, Khlyst), and continues to earn the critical adoration of fans and critics nationally for its compelling resonance. Gushed Pitchfork, “Mulhearn’s voice is pure and gentle, hinting of Appalachia. It radiates warmth, inviting the listener to lean in closer to catch every breathy syllable and heartfelt lyric while the song itself rumbles softly beneath like oncoming thunder,” while Exclaim! boasts, “Oblivion Songs is dark without being gloomy, its dissonance suggesting a willingness to embrace an ever-present tension rather than seeking catharsis or resolution.” Adds A Closer Listen, “These carefully-constructed songs take their time to build, layering on more and more foundations of heady instrumentation until they’re all but swirling skyward in heedless, drunken rapture. Mulhearn’s vocal tone carries a hint of her Appalachian locale, a reminder of how the mountain folk tradition manifests in all kinds of music, even the most experimental… Mulhearn has crafted a truly impressive, genre-defying statement here, and it’ll be more than thrilling to see where her musical travels take her next.”
DIVINE CIRCLES
w/ Elisa Faires
5/02/2014 The Max Canada – Athens, GA w/ Earth Builder, Heroine
5/03/2014 Sluggo’s – Chattanooga, TN
5/04/2014 Foodbar – Nashville, TN w/ Zobrodome
5/05/2014 Modern Cult Records – Louisville, KY
5/06/2014 The Burlington – Chicago, IL w/ Matchess, Laughing Eye Weeping Eye
5/08/2014 Cafe Moustache – Chicago, IL w/ Curtains
5/10/2014 It Looks Like Its Open – Columbus, OH
5/11/2014 TBA – Lexington, KY
Notorious for pushing the limits of traditional string-playing in an effort to investigate the violin’s potential as an instrument far beyond customary composition, Mulhearn often exercises effects and electronics, novel plucking/strumming techniques and uses the violin as an actual vocal resonator. Her eccentric approach, compared to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Warren Ellis of Dirty Three/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and more investigational artists like Aidan Baker and Steve Reich, invokes evocative, visceral and textural elements, often unrecognizable as originating from a violin at all.
Lose yourself in Oblivion Songs, still streaming at The Onion’s A.V. Club at THIS LOCATION.
Oblivion Songs is currently available in limited edition vinyl via Paradigms Recordings. Order your copy today HERE.
“From the elegant melancholy of ‘Leave’ to the cosmic-Appalachian folk of ‘Hymn,’ Oblivion Songs evokes an ancient-sounding soulfulness one that provides a stark counterpoint to her far heavier work with her main band, U.S. Christmas.” – The Onion’s AV Club
“Oblivion Songs is less about a ‘band’ and more a statement about how one artist with a distinct and thrilling vision can compose music that brings the listener into their world. Even if it’s just a brief, fleeting glimpse inside someone’s soul it can be enough to reach you from a million miles away and to permanently leave its mark on you. ” – Lonesome Noise
http://divinecircles.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/DivineCircles
http://www.paradigms-recordings.com