Mark Sultan - $
- Written by Will Drysdale
According to the bible of made up facts and unreliable anecdotes (yes, even us revered Musosguide writers occasionally resort to Wikipedia), the adolescent, Montreal born, Mark Sultan showed a keen interest in psychology. I wonder what this budding Freud would have made of $?
It’s likely Sultan would have been fascinated by his older self’s exploration of multiple personalities. Although it showcases a wide range of song writing styles, genres and vocal deliveries, Mark Sultan’s second solo record, is certainly wrapped up in a singular, low-fi lovin’, garage rockin’, abject noise embracin’ skin.
Multiple personas in music and literature are nothing new (if they are, then I suggest you run a hot bath, listen to David Bowie’s back catalogue and read ‘Steppenwolf’), but the elongated list of Mark Sultan’s stage names provide a glimpse into just how fluid his sense of self really is (Needles, Krebs, Von Needles, Skutch, Creepy, Bridge Mixture, Kib Husk, Noammnn Rummnyunn, Blortz, Celeb Prenup and BBQ).
The four minute long, industrial psychedelic introduction of ‘Icicles’ gets things off to a rather laborious start, but with surfer rock number ‘Don’t Look Back’, $ begins to hit it’s stride. That said, by the rip-roaring fourth track ‘Status’, the wheels threaten to fall off completely in the raucous multi-vocalled, trumpet and hand clap punctuated outro, which appears to be accompanied by a drummer having several heart seizures all at once.
As homages to The Kinks go, ‘I Get Nothin’ From My Girl’ is right up there, replete with jaunty acoustic guitar, pronounced vocal harmonies and a whistling solo to boot. This borrowing from bands of bygone eras rears its head again in The Ramones-esque ‘Go Beserk’. What this song (and the intro to ‘I Am The End’) really showcases is the rather excellent top register of Sultan’s voice.
In ‘Misery’s Upon Us’, one of $’s stand out tracks, this sparkling top register and rhythmical vocal delivery appears again, only this time it’s over a wind up musical box and an ever present drone of guitar feedback.
Sultan is at his most convincing when writing 50s doo-wop inspired ballads. With its gospel vocals, distorted guitar figures and lyrics of unrequited love, ‘Ten Of Hearts’ sounds like it’s screaming out to be featured in a Cohen brother’s film. ‘Just To Hold You’ and ‘Catastrophe’ move along pleasantly enough, but they sound like well executed pastiches of the 50s/60s music Sultan champions, rather than heartfelt original compositions.
‘Nobody But You’ brings the record to a rather disappointing close; it’s one of those songs where you know exactly what the lyrics are going to say before they’ve been sung. It’s this kind of predictable, occasionally pedestrian song writing, which Sultan strays into a little too often on $.
On his website, Sultan claims he didn’t know this record would be reviewed as ‘entertainment’. This is an admirable stance, however, by writing melodic, three minute pop songs (it doesn’t matter how you dress them up), $ will ultimately be judged by its ability to entertain and engage listeners. Fans of his work will no doubt enjoy this latest batch of songs, as they rightly should, however, new listeners may not find it to be quite the original or completely coherent record they were hoping for.