Melting Vinyl dedicated to bringing creative artists to Brighton & Kent

Melting Vinyl presents:

Jolie Holland + special guest Mark McKowski
Komedia Studio, Brighton
Doors 7.30pm / Start 8pm
£15 + booking fee / £19 on the door (See + Venue)
Standing
Age restrictions – 14+, Under 16’s to be accompanied

Jolie Holland is an American singer and performer who combines elements of folk, traditional country, jazz, and blues.

Over the span of her career, including with the Be Good Tanyas, Jolie Holland has knotted together a century of American song—jazz, blues, soul, rock and roll—into some stew that is impossible to categorize with any conventional critical terminology. This is her burden and her gift, to know all of these American songs of the last ten decades in her head and her heart, and to have to wrestle with their legacy. She dives straight to the pathos of a song the way the very greatest singers, singers like Mavis Staples, or Al Green, or Skip James, or Tom Waits do. Upon first encounter her songs seem challenging, perhaps unsettling at times, but as so many poets and rockers have shown us (from Dante Alighieri to William Blake to Sylvia Plath to Patti Smith to Nick Cave to Mark E. Smith) that’s where the beauty lies. As evident on her first recordings, Holland apparently has no fear of the truth, and there is no emotional core that she cannot reach in song. In fact she thrives on the red hot center of a musical composition, in all its strange and brutal detail.

‘Haunted Mountain’ Out now (collaboration with Big Thief’s Buck Meek).

Mark McKowski

In the enchanting realm of music, few creators possess the ability to transcend boundaries quite like the Irish virtuoso, Mark McCausland. Renowned as a multifaceted artist, Mark’s illustrious career has seen him don multiple hats – songwriter, producer, and musician extraordinaire. While he’s celebrated for his role as one half of the spellbinding duo, The Lost Brothers, Mark’s artistic odyssey doesn’t stop there. Under the enigmatic pseudonym McKowski, he crafts his own musical narratives that whisk listeners away on sonic adventures.

But what makes Mark McCausland’s musical journey truly remarkable is the backdrop against which it unfolds. Nestled amidst the picturesque landscapes of Omagh, a town that has been an indelible part of his life, Mark’s creative sanctuary is his very own home studio. It’s a place where musical dreams come to life, where every note carries the essence of a lifelong connection to a place he’s simultaneously sought to escape and cherish.

Mark’s collaborations with a diverse array of artists have woven a tapestry of sounds that defy categorisation. Whether he’s exploring the timeless harmonies of The Lost Brothers or diving deep into the avant-garde world of McKowski, Mark’s music is a testament to his boundless creativity. It’s a symphony that invites listeners to explore uncharted territories and embark on a musical journey like no other.

In a world where artists are often defined by their origins, Mark McCausland’s story is a reminder that true creativity knows no boundaries. From the heart of Omagh, he continues to craft sonic landscapes that transport us to distant realms, proving that sometimes, the very places we long to escape are the ones that inspire our most profound artistic expressions.

“Sounds like a low- rent dark Western, Sergio Leone with added five o’ clock shadow… Eerie Morricone vibes.. a musical True Grit” (Wall of Sound)