Review: TMULE Releases New Alt-Folk Solo EP, 'Wordless Lullabies'

By: Norman Hittle

Singer and guitar player for the alt-country/rock band The Longest Day of the Year, TMULE is set to release his first solo EP since 2006 this month. The Ft. Collins, CO alt-folk/singer-songwriter will be releasing a folk-rock EP of four new songs called Wordless Lullabies, alongside his first book of poetry, Book of Dawn / I, the Iceberg.

TMULE.

TMULE.

Yet, alternative folk doesn’t sum up the full experience of this EP. With nods to Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison, TMULE's songs are soulful and heart-wrenching with their fingers reaching into blues and Americana. 

Raised in suburban Detroit with an alcoholic father, teenage TMULE would plug in his guitar and embrace the catharsis of singing his lungs out to “Release” by Pearl Jam. That feeling drew him to songwriting early in life. Worldless Lullabies and Book of Dawn / I, The Iceberg examine struggles through his father’s substance abuse, the weight of co-dependence, emotional abandonment, and the fortitude of love. The complications of growing up affected by alcoholism is a theme of many TMULE songs, but this package is the culmination of years of biographical writing; stories of hungry ghosts, fear, love and reconciliation to bring solace to those struggling in their own darkness, whatever it may be.

The EP’s dark aesthetic is the shining of a spotlight through his past while the poetry book explores the wide range of emotions surrounding dependence issues and it's complicated effect on personal relationships.

Check out TMULE's EP release show this Friday, May 26th at 730 PM at Downtown Artery in Fort Collins. Tickets here. TMule will also have a CD/Poetry Book release Tuesday, June 6th at 6PM at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe in Boulder.

'Wordless Lullabies' EP credits: Produced by Justin Roth of Fort Collins. Guest musicians Mark Lavengood (Lindsay Lou & the Flatbelly’s), Ben Zito and Dan Rickabus (The Crane Wives), and Paul Maley (Equally Challenged). Mastered by Ian Gorman of Kalamazoo’s La Luna Recording & Sound.

-Norman Hittle

All photos, videos, and embedded tracks per the artists featured and those credited. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.