Mike Marlin: ‘This Town’ – Single Review

Mike Marlin’s story is a heart-warming one. A fifty-year-old, bearded music obsessive who recovered from a deep alcoholic depression in the early 1980s to find work with computers (and continually record his unheard and unheralded music in his basement).

Without even having heard his upcoming new album you find yourself rooting for him. Marlin has been trying to break into music for so long it would take a cruel heart to not want him to succeed. And thankfully, after earning some critical respect for his most recent singles, it appears he may be on track to achieve his long held goals.

Marlin’s voice is a cross between his hero David Bowie and the Silver Jews’ David Berman, and on ‘This Town’ he croons lazily over a hazy Wurlitzer, aided by his support band’s competently played guitar, bass and drums. Not an immediately catchy song, but a slow burner, in keeping with Mike’s slow accent to pop chart recognition.

By William David Wilson