Music Review: P.T. Walkley - Mr. Macy Wakes Alone

With Mr. Macy Wakes Alone, New York musician and storyteller P.T. Walkley engages us with a rich narrative that follows coroners and trust-fund kids around Manhattan. It’s almost like a gothic Woody Allen, with Walkley spinning the words of this tale around beautiful music and smart lyrics.

While other artists might drown in all of this ambition, Walkley and the everlasting mass of musicians working in support of this miniature masterpiece are energized by it.

The tale centres on Audrey Macy. She’s a hipster living in the East Village. She’s a bass player and a poet.

Walkley’s work runs down various Manhattan side streets, tracing notes of comforting indie pop, Tin Pan Alley-inspired jaunts, and low gothic rock with fearless cheerfulness. His tempos swing, his scales soar, his melodies climb. At times chaotic and at times hilarious, Walkley’s record is one of the most inventive pieces of music I’ve had the pleasure of listening to in a long time.

But back to Audrey…

Walkley lets us follow this Astor Place girl around as she scales staircases and meanders through her life. We discover that a plot is hatching and as soon as we can say “poison the birthday cake” we learn what dearest Audrey is up to. The titular character, her father Mr. Macy, is a record exec and Miss Audrey wants to speed up her inheritance.

Dividing such a concept album up into individual tracks is a little like trying to describe a film by outlining the chapter stops on the DVD. The songs serve as scenes, moving the story to the next disclosure and the next gripping episode. Walkley melts the instrumentations together, switching paces and sequences with ease.

The true joy of Mr. Macy Wakes Alone is that Walkley and his musicians are able to walk the line between mordant and staggeringly touching with astonishing simplicity.

At times, Walkley digs beneath his story to tell us something far more personal. “The trouble with the bands today is that they’re all better than me,” he sings on “Mediocre.” He describes how The Strokes “wrote a decent love song” and how his songs will largely “go unheard.” With work like this, I can’t help but hope he’s dead wrong.

In a day and age of singles and standout tracks filling Billboard charts, a concept record like Mr. Macy Wakes Alone could be risky. But with extraordinary musicality, tender and compelling lyrics, and a fantastic sense of showmanship, P.T. Walkley has delivered one of the most engagingly creative albums of the year.

Article Author: Jordan Richardson

Jordan Richardson is a Canadian freelance writer and ne'er-do-well. He writes stuff here and here.

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