 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Mark Growden")
With a dark, gravelly voice matched with theatrical music, singer-songwriter Mark Growden is coming back to music after a four-year break.
He came back with renewed passion and direction. He has matured a lot since his break and his first album in eight years is much deeper than the others, he said. The songs on his new album, “Saint Judas,” broach subjects found in all music and in every part of life, but the album was much more a vision of change for Growden.
“Transformation isn’t always easy,” he said. “It can be deep, dark and ugly. It hurts.”
With his transformation complete, Growden will perform songs from his new album Thursday at The Frame. Growden, whose tour started in San Francisco, is no stranger to Chico. He played with art fashion collective Chikoko in the Bell Memorial Union auditorium last spring.
“Saint Judas” starts out with dark, slow songs marching forward on a deliberate beat, while lyrics wind around rhythms accented by accordions, banjos and trumpets.
One can feel the pain and devotion in Growden’s deep, powerful voice during the first song “Undertaker,” but the title track is easily the best song on the album. “Saint Judas” is much more upbeat and shorter than other songs, but it retains the feel of the album.
In the song, Growden reaches out to Judas, toasting him in the chorus line “bottoms up to you buddy, because somebody had to take the blame.” It is clear from the song Growden identifies with Judas on a personal level.
“It is intriguing to me that this philosophy based on love and forgiveness makes no room for Judas,” he said. “I feel for him. I have been in the same state.”
Ashlee Goncalves-Hilinski can be reached at
aghilinski@theorion.com
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