Black Swan by Robin Mullarkey

I'm thrilled to bring you my first solo album, Black Swan. If you have followed my music in the past you may be aware of the acclaimed Brotherly albums of 2007/2010 that I created along with vocalist Anna Stubbs. But for this record, rather than the intricately arranged, vocal-led bedroom production that attracted so many musos over the past 2 decades, I've gone for a more visceral improvised sound, harnessing the impeccable spontaneous instincts of a heavyweight London-based band.




The 12 tracks were recorded over a 2 day period in October 2024 without any rehearsal. Previously, the band had played a couple of shows at the prestigious Ronnie Scotts in London, paying tribute to the passing of a mutual source of great inspiration - Wayne Shorter. We covered various tracks of Wayne's from his post-Miles years, through Milton Nascimento collaborations, through weather Report and finally focusing on the mesmerising compositions of his 1995 album High Life. Initally we planned to record our own personal tilt on the Shorter tunes that had been so successful in the live shows. But as the recording date grew closer, I decided to instead create an opportunity to expand further on the tribute inspired sound which had unexpectedly come about. And so I put together a collection of grooves and ideas I had been working on and completely opened them up for some of my absolute favourite musicians to bring into the world.




Drummer Richard Spaven (Loyle Carner, PPP, Flying Lotus) may well be on your radar as a truly unique drummer with a distinctive sound and always drawing on his hiphop/D&B/broken-beat history, and the many years Richard and I have played together becomes evident. I always find his pocket effortless
Next we swirl in Dave Okumu (Tony Allen, Rosie Lowe, Jessie Ware), a true unique voice on the guitar and bringing his impeccable producer's ear and always knowing whether to bring out the funk or to take the track to otherwordly realms with his outlandish effects.
On the keys is Tom Cawley, a revered pianist with a passion for synths who has been forging new electro-acoustic improvising forms and whose skills have been put to use by Peter Gabriel.
Graeve Blevins adds not only astonishing tenor sax solos but brings some magical tones to the recordings with various alto flute and bass clarinet parts. 
Will Fry brings some percussive glue, always enhancing the flow and completing the sonics. A masterful conga player texture creator alike
Finally, I enlisted my favourite singer Eska with whom I toured for many years, to give an utterly unique rendition of Joni Mitchell's most fascinating composition "The Jungle Line"




For those hunting the progressive beats (System by Brotherly is often known to musicians for the sophisticated time-shift paired with simple and singable top-line), the polymetric cycles of rhythm and harmony present in Lingua Franca (featuring the incredible bass clarinet of Graeme Blevins) and the fiery outro to my stripped back interpretation of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir should get you excited. But elsewhere Bring Own Ball, The Quease and In The Fluvial Flow are stripped back compositions allowing the musicians to breathe and explore. It was a joy to see the tunes instantly brought to life and for once I allowed myself to really play bass!

Robin Mullarkey, acclaimed bassist and producer, brings his new record Black Swan to life with a heavyweight band.
Robin’s bass playing has been heard on hundreds of recordings including Zero 7, Jordan Rakei, Quincy Jones, Rosie Frater Taylor, Ben Jones, Ty, José James, Natalie Williams, Eska, and Terri Walker, and he is currently touring with Jacob Collier.

robinmullarkey.com