Wake Up Now

While making his second album, Nick Mulvey spoke with Brian Eno about the value of collaboration. Those conversations clearly took root: recorded live with a cast of friends, Wake Up Now rings with communal spirit, its rich layers of music and vocals accenting the calls for empathy and unity in songs about the environment (“We Are Never Apart”) and immigration (“Myela”). There’s also a hint of Eno in the hypnotic grooves that drive “Remembering”’s Afro-pop and “Imogen”’s skillful fusion of folk and trip-hop, while Mulvey proves equally effective at simple intimacy on closer “Infinite Trees.”