Peter Mulvey w/ Corey Mathew Hart

SILVER LADDER is an auditory shot in the arm from veteran touring songwriterPeter Mulvey. Produced by the indomitable Chuck Prophet, it is a lean, muscularcollection of tightly constructed songs, leavening Mulvey’s tendency towardruminative and yearning acoustic songs with a dose of sharp-witted, punchy rockand roll.After a turbulent stretch in his personal life left him at sea, Mulvey decided towrite his way out of it: “I've been through it. I bet you have too,” he said, “butthere are times in life when you turn a corner and suddenly everything is simple:let's make some songs, people! Let's play!” Committing to writing one song aweek relieved him of the precious, self-involved artist’s question, What Do I HaveTo Say? The songs came flooding out over the weeks and months, and within ayear he had more than enough for a new record.Reaching out to Chuck Prophet was meant to continue shaking himself loose.The two had met only once, at a gig. After Prophet agreed to produce, Peter flewto Los Angeles to meet the band of complete strangers Chuck had assembled,and within hours they were tracking tunes. David Kemper, veteran of five yearson the road and in the studio with Bob Dylan, made up the rhythm section withTom Freund (Ben Harper) on upright bass. Chuck and his Mission Expressguitarist James DePrato provided the electric guitar fireworks, and Sara Watkins(Nickel Creek) supplied touches of harmony vocal and violin. Aidan Hawken(Highwater Rising, The Quiet Kind) provided textures unheard on Mulvey’s pastfifteen records: celeste, Chamberlin, Mellotron. The great East Coast torch singerAnita Suhanin lent her voice to a heartbreaking duet.From its first track, SILVER LADDER brims with confidence and grit. From theunapologetic rock of “Sympathies” to the starkly beautiful “What Else Was It?”,from the conspiratorial swagger of “Lies You Forgot You Told” to the joyousrelease of “Back in the Wind”, SILVER LADDER is the work of an artist in hisprime. After nine sharp songs, the record ends with a vigorous left turn: theswampy groove of “Copenhagen Airport” at first seems to be an instrumental,until its simple two-line lyric delivers a universal jolt of recognition. Thenvertiginous sweep of “If You Shoot at a King You Must Kill Him” is offset by theconcise, piercing coda, “Landfall”.SILVER LADDER is an artistic rebirth for Mulvey, the work of an artist who hasdiscovered his inner rock-and-roller, a man who has been through the eye of theneedle and come through it with a haul of songs to spark and encourage hisfellow humans.