New music; with loads of influences, but the main influences are from her life, the world she sees around her, the people she meets or hears about and the fears, tears, hopes, dreams, injustices and triumphs that make up human existence. "I suppose I try to look at the world and its inhabitants from as many different perspectives as I can," Karen explains. "I investigate, preach, uncover, congratulate, and - damn! - this also applies to myself."
"At present I’m both limited and refreshed by having just a guitar at my disposal for song-writing. However it does mean that I am continually challenging myself to be more inventive with lyrics, melody, chords and atmosphere whilst retaining a simple honesty and integrity that I think has been lost in music over recent years. Everything seems so overproduced or lyrically weightless, strong melodies and rousing choruses seem to be uncool unless they’re totally ironic or senseless. Well, if that’s the case I’m very uncool," she confesses. "Take it or leave it."
Eventually, Karen says, she would like to work with a wider spectrum of instruments to create more limit-bashing music in the future. "For now though I’ll push it as far as I can under the loose heading ‘Folk–rock.’"
"I figure as long as the lyrics are smacking people in the brain, tinkering with their emotions, raising awareness and expressing a gut feeling then the listener can engage on a number of levels. The listener should be able to ride with me down side streets, above mountains and under sewers! They should feel more real."
She stops to think, then adds "That said, I’m young and still exploring. Do we stop growing? Do we feel less real when we stop exploring? I know I do."
Karen writes lyrics and music for all her songs but since (she says) she's not a great guitarist, she usually brings one in. To date she's worked with guitarists Chris Baty and - more recently - the experienced Luke Pepper, both of whom have played on her recordings as well as live. "Whilst I have someone playing guitar for me," she explains, "I'm given room to play merry hell with the mic, and to generally play the fool."
"To me, music is a language, the subtext to our lives. It is the most powerful art form and it can alter everything from your mood, your day, your circle of friends, to your whole life. It gives you moments of truth, perception and insight that you may otherwise not have had. Music allows you to express who you really are and who you want and don't want to be, and it reaches the world over. Every society has its own music. It's a human thing. In fact it's more than human, it's nature. The rhythms of the earth, the oceans, volcanos, shifting rock and howling gales, the water gushing around our bodies, the ripple and click of our bones, the boom-boom of our hearts...we have to respond to music...we make music just by being alive." She ponders. "I sang before I spoke. Music was - and still is - the only thing that makes any real sense."
- Taken from interviews with Karen Mulcahey in August 2003 and April 2004.
