Caught in the Carousel

Mark Bacino

By Alex Green

Mark Bacino

"New York," John Gregory Dunne once wrote, "is at once cosmopolitan and parochial, a compendium of sentimental certainties. It is in fact the most sentimental of the world's great cities." Singer/songwriter and New York native Mark Bacino must have been feeling Dunne's sentimentality when he was recording his new album because his third long player Queens English is nothing short of an aural love letter to New York City; a moving song cycle that manages to capture what F. Scott Fitzgerald once described as, "...the wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world."

Mark Bacino

Armed with the kind of varsity pop smarts that rank him alongside folks like Marshall Crenshaw, Jason Falkner and Graham Parker, Mark Bacino knows how to throw a right pop hook. Over the course of two infectious albums Bacino has proven that not only does he have depth and range, he's in possession of a seemingly indefatigable supply of catchy tunes. Although Billy Bragg once warned the third album is the real difficult one, Bacino has shrugged that warning aside and made the album of his career.

Although it has plenty of the punchy pop that Bacino has become known for ("Queens English" "Middle Town") Queens English is an album of tremendous musical depth and lyrical sensitivity. The wistful "Ballad of M & LJ" centers around palling around with your kid ("We might eat the ice cream cones/We might even listen to The Kinks/When your mommy's not home") but it brings to mind a sentiment brought up by Raymond Carver in "Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes," when a young boy says to his father before he goes to sleep: "Dad? You'll think I'm pretty crazy, but I wish I'd known you when you were little." Meanwhile, the horn-powered, playfully sardonic "Happy" suggests Randy Newman; "Muffin In The Oven" reveals the thought process of a woman who's just learned she's pregnant and "Angeline And The Bensonhurst Boy" is a touching love story. Later, the strings of "Bridge And Tunnel" bring a sense of romance to a series of observations about one's home turf and the album closer "Who Are Yous" sums up the city and the self and finds that they're one and the same.

From his home in Queens, Mark Bacino talked to CITC about New York, Hall & Oates and cheeseburgers.

Caught In The Carousel: I was thinking about the Beastie Boys' To The Five Boroughs when I heard your album was titled Queens English. Is the album an homage to Queens?

Mark Bacino: I suppose on one level, the album is very much a kind of love-letter to NYC and, more specifically, life in its outer-boroughs. It's not so much an homage to Queens in particular although that borough's influence weighs pretty heavily on the album since that's where I make my home these days. On a more personal level, the album also loosely chronicles the changes in my life over the past 9 years or so—moving from Manhattan out to Queens, buying a home, starting a family—all kind of set against the backdrop of a quickly changing, post-9/11 New York. Seemed like a good metaphor for the shifts going on in my life.

Mark Bacino

CITC:. What makes Queens so unique?

MB: I was born and raised in Queens and found my way back after a good number of years living in Manhattan. I think Queens is a pretty interesting place although it gets a bad rap from the New York fabulous/elite as being "unhip", culturally devoid and generally populated by only the bourgeoisie. It's true its pretty working class but obviously me and lots of other folks don't see that as a negative thing. Queens is also the most culturally diverse borough in the city which makes for a very interesting dynamic. The other thing that always fascinated me about Queens is the way a lot of its neighborhoods and its residents sort of retain a kind of small town feel or attitude while geographically being part of one of the biggest cities on the planet. Maybe this contributes to the bad rep I spoke of earlier but I grew up with and still live among a lot of folks who have very little interest in what goes on in "the city", aka Manhattan, which is obviously NY's de facto center. I sing about this phenomenon in songs on the album like "Bridge & Tunnel" and "Middle Town." As a kid, I used to look down on this mindset a bit but I've come to respect it. The people of the outer-boroughs are pretty real, down to earth folks. For all the culture, creativity and brilliance Manhattan has to offer it's also peppered with a lot of hype. The outer-borough peeps have pretty strong bullshit detectors and I think that kind of thing turns them off. Given the choice most would rather go to see the Mets or hang with their families than go to a stuffy opening at The Met.

CITC: Like Marshall Crenshaw or Graham Parker, you have an uncanny ability to make pop songs "pop"—in other words, you've got hooks to burn! How do you come up with these so easily?

MB: Well first off, thanks for putting me in such elite company, I'm not sure I deserve it. The artists you mention are both faves of mine but to answer your question regarding the hooks, to be honest, I'm not sure where they come from. I think as a rule my ear naturally gravitates pretty heavily toward the ultra-melodic side of things. I'm not a big dissonance guy so as such I guess I just automatically try to write tunes that please me from a melodic standpoint and then hope that if I like them others will, too.

CITC: From the horny swagger of "Happy" to the sprightly pop of "Muffin In The Oven," where did the musical inspiration for this album come from?

MB: Just stepping back from it a bit, I think at first glance the music from this record seems pretty heavily inspired by the work of folks like Harry Nilsson or Randy Newman; people whose work I love and respect and I'm totally flattered when someone throws those references out there but I also think I've been influenced by a slew of artists people don't necessarily connect to me or the music I do. For instance, growing up in the '80s I really dug acts like The Police, Hall & Oates and Prince, just to name a few. I have to think that although it may not always be apparent on the surface of my output, a lot of different styles and sounds have had an impact on me.

Mark Bacino

CITC: How long was the gestation period for this record?

MB: The actual recording of the album took about two years to complete, working on and off. In terms of the writing, a few of the songs began to come to me during the recording of my last record, which at this point was quite some time ago. Other tunes were written in the ensuing years and a few were even written in the midst of the recording of the album itself.

CITC: "Middle Town" is one of the best pop songs of the year—can you talk a bit about that number?

MB: Thanks for the kind words, I'm flattered you like that one so much. I guess in a nutshell "Middle Town" kind of explores the 'small town vibe within the big town' sentiment I touched on earlier. The 'hood I currently live in was once considered many years ago as the geographical mid-point between the farms at the start of Long Island and Manhattan; a place where farmers would often stop for the night as they hauled their goods to market. Reading that little piece of history and given the neighborhood's current middle class leanings, I kind of felt there was a pretty cool metaphor in there that was song worthy.

CITC: The album is bookended by "Who Are Yous?"—is the sentiment of the song in effect the album's thesis?

MB: Yeah, I think that's accurate. As I mentioned earlier, on the personal side of things, this album sort of became a chronicle of change, reevaluation and self-discovery in the context of my life, set against the backdrop of a city that too was in the midst of some changes. Ultimately, I was hoping both versions of "Who Are Yous?" at the head and tail of the album would help frame that up some.

Mark Bacino

CITC: What's next for you?

MB: Just looking forward to seeing this record make its way into the world; hopefully folks will like it. Beyond that I just hope to continue to have the opportunity to create music that people get something out of while pushing the creative boundaries for myself at the same time. And oh yeah, I might get a cheeseburger, I'm kinda hungry.

Queens English is out now.

Internet:
www.markbacino.com
www.dreamcrushmusic.com