Who? The 28-year-old musician, a founding member of experimental jazz band Portico Quartet, decided to hang up his Hang (which he’s since described as a “bit of a shackle”) in 2010, in favour of solo stardom. Brought up in Cambridge with his father, a Buddhist molecular biologist, and his mother, a singer, he went on to study the music of Cuban, Honduran and Congolese artists, traces of which feature subtly in his own music. His guitar technique and introverted vocal style have led to comparisons with the likes of Nick Drake and John Martyn. In January, he reached the longlist for the BBC’s Sound of 2014 award.
The album: First Mind
Previous releases: Knee-deep in the North Sea – 2008 (Portico Quartet);
Isla – 2009 (Portico Quartet)
What we said: “Americana finger-picking happily coexists with Afro and calypso rhythms. The sublime Meet Me There finds a beat in Mulvey’s gently wearied, tongue-twisting vocal (“after all the people picking people picking people apart”). Most unexpectedly, the outstanding Nitrous morphs from a lament to a laughing-gas seller into an unlikely folk deconstruction of Olive’s 90s pop-dance hit You’re Not Alone. Terrific stuff.”
What he said: “My aim as a songwriter – just like most of the artists I love – is to appeal to your subconscious first. A song can be cerebrally satisfying second, but first of all it has to feel right.”
Notable Mercury-friendly accolades: His former bandPortico Quartet were nominated for the prize back in 2008.
Likelihood to win: His songwriting skills are considered far more credible than those of the chorus of chart-friendly acoustic troubadours currently operating (Ed Sheeran, George Ezra or Ben Howard), and there is something to be said for the enduring, and burgeoning even, popularity of one young man and his guitar. Gomez and Badly Drawn Boy are past winners, and share a vaguely similar approach to songwriting, but in the past solo folk/indie songwriters haven’t triumphed at the Mercuries. Ladbrokes has him as a 10/1 win.
Stream the album:
