Nick Mulvey (born 4 November 1984) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who studied music in Havana, Cuba. He played the Hang as a founder member of 2008 Mercury Prize nominated band Portico Quartet, until 2011 when he left to pursue his career as a singer-songwriter releasing the EPs The Trellis (2012) and Fever to the Form (2013) and his studio album First Mind in 2014 which received a Mercury Music Prize nomination.
At the age of 19, Mulvey moved to Havana, Cuba to study music and art. On returning to the UK, Nick enrolled at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies to study Ethnomusicology. Before that, he attended Chesterton Community College in Cambridge.
While studying Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Mulvey met the other members of Portico Quartet. The band consisted of Jack Wyllie (soprano and tenor saxophone), Duncan Bellamy (drums), Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass), and Keir Vine (Hang and percussion) who replaced Nick Mulvey after his departure from the band in January 2011. Their debut album Knee-deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize alongside Radiohead, Elbow, and Adele in 2008. The album's title was mentioned in the closing words to Alt-J's song Dissolve Me. Portico Quartet released their second album Isla on 9 October 2009 through Real World Records.
Softly, in the evening dusk, a woman is singing to me;
She takes me back down the vista of my years, until I see
I see a child underneath the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
Pressing the poised feet of his mother who smiles at him as she sings.
Cucurucu, cucurucu
Softly now in the evening dusk, a woman is singing to me;
She takes me back down the vista of my years, until I see
A boy, a child underneath the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
Pressing the poised feet of his mother who smiles at him as she sings
Yearning to belong, yearning to belong
My heart beats with a ceaseless longing of a yearning to belong
In spite of myself, and all of these nursery songs
My heart beats with a ceaseless longing of a yearning to belong
Cucurucu, cucurucu
Singing cucurucu, cucurucu
Till the melodies of childish days, are upon, upon me
And they take me back, back down the river
They keep leading me on, they lead me to the sea
And all of my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, and I weep like a child for the past.
Singing cucurucu, cucurucu
Singing cucurucu, cucurucu
I see a child underneath the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
Pressing the poised feet of his mother who smiles at him as she sings.
Listen to me son, I'll tell you why your feather's strong
Cause he can still say every single day, he's yearning to belong
Yearning to belong, yearning to belong
My heart beats with a ceaseless longing of a yearning to belong
In spite of myself, and all of these nursery songs
My heart beats with a ceaseless, meets with a peaceless burning to belong
Singing cucurucu, cucurucu
Singing cucurucu
Singing cucurucu, cucurucu
Cucurucu