Although it is clear that Dylan Mundy is an artist looking to write music that pushes folk music into a new chapter, perhaps he isn’t doing so that consciously or deliberately, but a by-product of his music-making is undoubtedly a marker of the genre moving forward and a real indication of where it might go next.
Having said that, there is still a lot here that seems to tip its hat to the more traditional side of the genre – the chiming and spacious acoustic guitar, the understated vocal delivery, the neat use of repetition in the lyrics and the dark poeticism that creeps into the descriptions.
But to balance those older elements, Mundy fills “It Happened Again? with cool and cutting-edge indie sonics, liquid guitar effects, flitting and fleeting swathes of electronica and banks of vocal harmonies that seem to have a foot in both worlds. And this duality is what makes the song so appealing.
Irrespective of which camp you come from, the folk tradition, that of indie modernity, or perhaps spending your time mining a dark alt-pop seam, the subject matter is both brilliantly timeless and wonderfully relatable. We have all been the losers in a doomed relationship; we have all been the ones who get hurt, the ones who seem to be affected most by the dissolution of a romantic partnership. this is your anthem, an understated one but an anthem nonetheless.
“It Happened Again?” is elegant and eloquent. It is dark and delicious. It’s marvellous. It’s moody. It’s Mundy!
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