Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1973, Mark Geary is one of eight brothers and sisters raised during a time of extreme political and social upheaval, part of the reason there was a mass exodus of young Irishmen in the late '80s and early '90s. Geary, if fact, was one of those emigrants; he arrived in New York in 1992 at the ripe age of 19, and gradually established himself as one of New York's most popular singer/songwriters, with the local press christening Geary the next in a line of honest and personal songwriters who have made a mark on the music industry, including Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith. To back up the hype, Geary released his eponymous debut recording on Paradigm Records at the outset of 1999. Like Beth Orton before him, Geary spices up traditional folk arrangements and instrumentation with bits of electronica in the open spaces and background of his music. ~ Stanton Swihart