Shucking Your Husk
An analysis of the continuing life and works of Craig Muderlak
by Kyle McAfee
While typing I’m listening to Shake it Off by Mariah Carey. I know, to get into the mindset needed to write this piece, I should put on some of Craig Muderlak’s tracks. But before I close Pandora and visit Muderlak’s myspace page I am struck by a connection between Miss Carey’s song and Craig’s work. While Muderlak’s content is not love-specific, his songs are, like Shake it Off, an anthem to remaining prepared to move on. An appropriate music video for either Mariah or Craig would feature a character shedding their identity, as a literal husk during a killer special effects sequence.
Muderlak’s response to a question, regarding his current creative involvement, exemplifies the theme of transition.
“Lately, I’ve been drawing a bunch. Relatively simple pen and ink drawings that are rather obsessive and take a while to finish. I really enjoy the simplicity of drawing lately. As for music, I haven’t been recording much lately. Sometimes I get really sick of computers and need to take a break.”
Right off the bat Craig Muderlak will remind you of Neil Young, or Modest Mouse, or Will Oldham, or an ambient natural sound effect interlude by Boards of Canada with Doug Martsch sitting in- it depends what track is playing. Weathered is weird and jargony, an occasionally flat and mispicked guitar line circulates beneath scratching rhythms, Craig’s voice a soft cat’s yowl. Tar is a succinct morsel of dirty beauty. I Can’t Agree has disenchanted Kermit-the-frog vocals alongside a gently driving melody, and would probably be the single, if any of these songs were off of an actual album. But there is no album, nor does Craig play live.
“No, I don’t perform regularly. I’ve barely ever performed other than at a few coffee venues, a music festival in college… I’m pretty reclusive about music even though secretly I really like people to hear what I write. I also believe I have an undiagnosed case of ADD which makes it easy for me to be prolific but not very professional about music. What I mean by this is that I write and record a lot of songs but I don’t have the patience to finish them or memorize them. I treat much of my compositions like doodles. I work on them a little with temporary passion and then move on to the next creation.”
Muderlak goes on to describe his personal musical history.
“I started playing piano and taking piano lessons when I was four,” Craig explains, “I never really enjoyed taking piano lessons and playing classical music. After five or six years, I quit.. Sometime after that, I picked up guitar and revitalized my love for playing music. The first time I played live in front of people was when I was about 12 years old at a YMCA camp. Guitar revitalized my love for instruments because it was the guitar that taught me about writing music.”
And what would Craig Muderlak like the world to know about him?
“I’ve been finding gray hairs on my head recently but I feel more immature with each passing day”
Craig Muderlak is The Western Editor of Transience for High Contrast Review. He is currently based in Boulder Colorado, but will soon head to Wyoming for a teaching position with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). For more Craig’s songs check out www.myspace.com/blownminds
