On the back of a highly successful crowdfunding campaign for his fourth solo album Nambucca Fables, ‘Every Waking Hour‘ heralds the return of Mark Moldre, four years after his acclaimed album Fever Dreams. Following the release of the single, Mark is excited to release its accompanying video clip, filmed by Jo Moldre, directed and edited by Mark and beautifully populated with photos from his family photo albums.
A lot has happened in the intervening years. Floods, fires and a pandemic descended, and just prior to that, on a devastating personal note, the sad and tragic loss of Mark’s mother. “Grief stifles you at first. You can barely sleep, eat or get dressed….let alone try to write. Your brain feels like it’s shrouded in a low, damp mist. I certainly couldn’t write at my desk, I felt like I was suffocating there,” he confesses.
The song, in spite of its subject matter and intense personal nature, fairly leaps from the speaker with a vibrant rhythm section and invigorating and vital guitars that cleverly convey remembrance as much as they contrast the raw longing and emotional dislocation in the wake of the passing of a loved one. Mark’s lifetime of exploring the possibilities of the guitar in indie rock, jazz, power pop and beyond comes to the fore on the song. Heroes like Nels Cline, Neil Young and Bill Frisell are omnipresent as Mark and his band create an exquisite blend of melodic Americana and indie pop-rock that descends into a frazzled, clattering heap as the song concludes.
“After grief, there is some kind of new balance…a new you,” explains Mark. “Damaged but somehow improved. A deeper understanding, more empathetic. Love finds new depths. Somehow you find you way out of that mist and into a new morning.”