Despite being a fixture of the Cincinnati music scene for the last decade, A Little Hello will be songwriter Mol Sullivan’s first proper studio record. Released on cassette with the fine folks at Ruination Record Co., the eight-song EP acts as both an introduction (hence the title) and a purging of the past, allowing Sullivan to finally let go of songs she has crafted during difficult moments in the last ten years. Many were written during a struggle with alcoholism and the subsequent slow painful passage to sobriety. A process which understandably took its toll, and brought Sullivan’s work as a songwriter and performer, and indeed even her relationship to music in general, into question.
While fighting this battle, Mol Sullivan began to self-produce a record with the help of collaborator Alessandro Corona. After getting sober, the pair moved in together and Sullivan’s work began to change its focus. Taking inspiration from the likes of Fiona Apple and Regina Spektor, she swapped her guitar for a keyboard and began to experiment with her vocal range, testing its limits as a means to convey her emotions in the most radically candid way possible. And that’s where the magic happened. The new instrument and wildly untethered vocals (as Sullivan put its, she began to “howl a bit”) allowed her to process the pain of the previous years and finally purge these songs from her system.
Which isn’t to say these are difficult tracks to listen to. As we described in a preview last year, Mol Sullivan specialises in “earnest and unflinchingly intimate songs leavened with pop melodies and confident vocals,” and A Little Hello has plenty of bounce and sparkle to carry the emotion of its subject matter. The opening title track is a case in point, a lilting pop song with a stop-start whirligig energy that allows Sullivan to showcase her unique delivery and ear for the unexpected. The perky opening is undercut by the slow ache of the second half, which gradually gains momentum as if lofted twirling on a warm updraft.
Despite its sedately groovy surface, there’s a something of a tumultuous atmosphere on ‘Frontrunner’, as Sullivan reflects on a past relationship, the lyrics flitting around like persistent anxious thoughts as she asks “Was it a fling? Was it a front? / Was I a placeholder?” Conversely, ‘We Held Up the Sky’ has a velvety richness, unfurling with a slowness that could suggest romance or heartbreak, depending on the listener, while ‘Golden’ feels somehow both spacious and cozy, suffused with the vastness and intimacy of a summer sunset.
Another standout is the record’s second single ‘Bury the Hatchet’, which further encapsulates its blend of raw emotion and quirky irreverence. What Sullivan describes as “campy, moody, lush, and catchy (all at the same time),” the song is not quite as direct an earworm as the title track, beginning in ruminative fashion before building into a bracingly open examination of a dysfunctional relationship. “How can we bury the hatchet when you’re keepin’ it hidden?” Sullivan asks of an evasive partner in the opening lines. “How can we unearth the truth and still find room for forgivin’?”
But she still finds room for some cathartic fun too, with inventive melodies and even a genuine, capital-Y yeehaw. The music video, created by Sullivan with help from Joey Allen, Olivia Meade and Loren McNames, illustrates the atmosphere perfectly, the austere shots of the first scene morphing into something far sillier after an early twist. Check it out below:
The questions Mol Sullivan poses on ‘Bury the Hatchet’ get at something deep at the heart of the album. Prompts intended to instigate communication. An open-hearted sharing of the fears, quirks and mistakes we all possess. All in the hope the act of posing these questions might better equip herself for the whatever lies ahead, and furthermore offer some hard-won knowledge to others to encourage mutual support. As we described of closing track ‘Deep End Dive’ in a preview, A Little Hello “is the sound of a clear mind piercing the storm clouds of the past and allowing more positive progress into the future.”
A Little Hello is out on 3rd February via Ruination Record Co. Order it now from the Mol Sullivan Bandcamp page.
