Nick Mulvey returns with his sophomore effort Wake Up Now.

Nick Mulvey is an acoustic guitar-playing singer songwriter – nothing particularly ground breaking there. The UK has produced some of the biggest singer songwriters in recent history – Ed Sheeran, George Ezra, James Bay… isn’t Nick Mulvey just another in a long list of guys with guitars, nice voices and broken hearts?

Possibly not, actually. Mainly because he’s not lamenting about a long lost love, or chatting about a girl he fancies; he’s talking about real issues. Many of the songs on this album are hugely inspired by the state of the world both from an environmental and sociological perspective. This theme comes across both through Mulvey’s lyrics, and the clear influence of world music within the instrumentation.

One particular stand out track is Myela, which deals with the refugee crisis. The lyrics are poignant. Lines such as “God only knows the pain you feel to leave your country looking for a home; But they’d rather die once in the sea than dying everyday a little more,” really hit home. It’s refreshing to see someone who isn’t shying away from ‘real issues’ making their way into the mainstream music scene.

Unconditional is the first single from Wake Up Now, and has received a fair amount of critical acclaim. It’s definitely catchy, but doesn’t necessarily maintain the same theme as the rest of the album – it’s more of a classic ‘love song’, while other are more rooted in humanity and social awareness. It works fantastically as an album opener; it shows off Mulvey’s vocals and begins to introduce the vibe of the album more generally.

There are some tracks on this album which, it must be said, are not for the cynically minded. Those of us who struggle with the concepts of energy and spirituality might find songs such as Remembering and Infinite Trees difficult to fully connect with. However, maybe we should just lighten up a bit…

However, it could also be said that the album gets a bit monotonous. The songs do blend into one another, and there isn’t much variation between each track. Though his lyrics and themes do stand out, Wake Up Now could do with more of a musical push. It manages to keep an upbeat tone throughout, while discussing some really quite serious topics, but a song with a different arrangement, or a change in pace, wouldn’t go amiss.

Nevertheless, Wake Up Now is an album that’s sure to grab the attention of Mulvey’s growing fan base, and should stand out as something a little different within the singer-songwriter genre.