Jody Mulgrew plays solo show at Socrates Coffeehouse 

Musician to release new record inspired by Central Coast, March 27 in Atascadero

—Singer-Songwriter Jody Mulgrew will release his latest Album, the dark and dreamy “We Gave Ourselves To Summer” on March 27, with an intimate solo show at Socrates Coffeehouse in Atascadero, CA.

Singer-songwriter Jody Mulgrew to perform latest album, “We Gave Ourselves To Summer” at Socrates Coffeehouse in Atascadero March 27 at 7 p.m.

The six-song concept album was recorded by producer Aaron Bowen, who conceived of the project as an ode to Mulgrew’s home turf of Morro Bay and the Central Coast of California. Mulgrew’s lyrics invoke rolling coastlines, two-tone beaches at sunset, and foghorns echoing across the water, while Bowen’s cinematic slide guitar and tape loops pull on the tracks with the gravitational force of a full moon on the tide.

The album opens with “Till December,” like a spooky walk through a grove of Cypress trees at dusk. Mulgrew cites the inspiration from his years studying classical singing. “I wrote it as “lieder,” a German art song in the style of poet Heinrich Heine’s romantic lyricism and Robert Schumann’s incomparable harmony a la “Die Dichterliebe”.
From these opening moments forward, Bowen sets Mulgrew’s entreating tenor as a twinkling star in a dark and swirling night sky.

The album’s first single, “Love Somebody” sounds the way it’s music video looks — grainy and dark around the edges — while “Hills of Santa Barbara” plays like a Lana Del Rey outtake. “We Gave Ourselves to Summer” sounds like the soundtrack to a film imagined, but not yet written.

And as the cover photo of a faded postcard of the iconic Morro Rock suggests, “We Gave Ourselves to Summer” is a sonic love letter to a certain place and time, as remembered by one of the Central Coast’s prolific and talented songwriters.

You can pick up your copy of “We Gave Ourselves To Summer” on March 27, at Socrates Coffeehouse, 5985 Traffic Way next to the Carlton Hotel, in Atascadero.

The Show starts at 7 p.m, doors 6 p.m. Tickets are $15, available in advance at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3192075. The album can be streamed online and downloaded via www.jodymulgrew.com, iTunes, and other popular streaming services.

About the author: News Staff

News staff of the A-Town Daily News wrote and edited this article from local contributors and press releases. Scott Brennan is the publisher of this newspaper and founder of Access Publishing. Connect with him on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, or follow his blog. He can be reached at scott@accesspublishing.com.