Visionary musician Mark Blacknell has
released his new full-length record, “Blue Arrow.”
Visionary musician Mark Blacknell has
released his new full-length record, “Blue Arrow.” The album is
composed of nine tracks over 35 minutes listening time. Blacknell's
style of songwriting and performance on “Blue Arrow” is a
spiritual successor to the classic rock tones of the sixties, but
adds to this a handful of certain elements that belie his personal
roots in 1990s culture.
The album opens with the startlingly
titled, “Woke Up Alive,” which has stark characteristics of early
David Bowie, and introduces Blacknell quite appropriately as a man
with groove and confidence in his musical soul that communicates
easily and well through both his writing and delivery. This is
followed by a somewhat darker track, “Hiding Away,” which
contrasts against the more lighthearted tracks on “Blue Arrow”
with progressions of minor chords and vocal styles very reminiscent
of bands like Stone Temple Pilots and acoustic Nirvana, very powerful
in its simplicity and execution.
Tracks three and four return to where
Blacknell seems most comfortable (although he never, ever sounds
forced – that would seem out of character) and take a Beatles-esque
tone from their folk rock period. Blacknell's singing always tends
toward John Lennon tonalities, but when waxing folk this gentle
attitude courses through him with almost tangible friendliness and
feelings of contentment. This is also very evident in his easy rock
ballad, “Good Night Cigarette.” Tinges of a slightly more
aggressive Blacknell emerge again in “Lonely Sigh,” when he adds
a touch of Roy Orbison to his mood. Darker undertones present in
“Back to You” cannot be missed. “Blue Arrow” is a work of
imbalanced balance, simplicity and complexity – yin and yang.
Here the album makes a fantastically
circuitous return to the '90s sound audible in track two (except here
in the album's second-to-last song) with “Last Year's Argument
Song,” the message, mood, sound and feel of which recall those of
the late-nineties indie rock bands such as Built to Spill or Sunny
Day Real Estate, very surprising at this stage and undeniably
excellent. “Blue Arrow”'s closing number, “Come One,”
completes the circle aforementioned by revolving back to that David
Bowie style with which the artist first began, thus completing a
natural-feeling journey that had some changes in-between, but never
really went anywhere except right where it started, only deeper and
with added complexity.
Blacknell himself is an advocate of
nature conservation and of military veterans, but he sums up his
message to music fans with the following words: “You can be an
individual if you work hard enough at it. Put in the time, have
realistic expectations, and you can create any life you wish. I do
what I have to do to earn a living, but earning a living is not my
life and never will be. Music, art, writing, meditation… This is
me.”
-S. McCauley
Staff Press Release Writer
MondoTunes
The LP “Blue Arrow” is
distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com)
and is available at iTunes for convenient purchase and download
MondoTunes
(www.mondotunes.com)
supplies the largest music distribution in the world and provides
upstream services for many major labels in search of breakout
artists. While most independent distributors reach only 45-50
retailers despite charging needless monthly and yearly fees,
MondoTunes reaches over 750 retailers and mobile partners in over 100
world regions without any monthly or yearly fees.
ARTIST
CONTACT INFO:
markblacknell35@gmail.com
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