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Now that Kristin DiCara's and Nathan McClellan's youngest child is headed off to kidergarten, the Portland based couple is making a return to performing. As the acoustic duo Mystic Folk Opera, the two recently released an album, "Secrets Of A Hostile Sun." Go to mysticfolkopera.com to stream audio. The duo will be joined by Vermont-based roots trio Bread and Bones. - Mom and Dad (aka Mystic Folk Opera) back on stage
As I arrived Nathan McClellan and Kristin DiCara from Mystic Folk Opera were just finishing up their radio performance on WSCA 106.1FM "Stay Tuned" with Shawn Henderson. This husband and wife band met about 15 years ago. They were originally from Denver Colorado and moved to Portsmouth NH. seven years ago. "We grew out of Denver rast!" they said. "Our three children are now older, and we are experiencing a new found freedom to take our show on the road," said Kristin. This musical duo "are beginning to build a presence with a sound that works surprisingly well in its rawest possible form...cutting and driven acoustic guitars and delicate harmonies brandishing deep, powerfully evocative, lyrics." (Quoted from their website). They are both self taught guitarists and singers witha new CD out called "Secrets Of A Hostile Sun" which was recorded in their home studio and mastered at The Busted Barn in Portland Maine. Before they left I was able to get some photos of the two of them together with Shawn out in front of the radio station. Mystic Folk Opera can be found on Myspace at www.myspace.com/mysticfolkopera or contact them by e-mail at mysticfolkopera@gmail.com I also found a Youtube video of them performing "I Am The Rain" and this can be viewd at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3wAFEpnFPs - Seacoast Scene
Mystic Folk Opera, a husband-and-wife folk duet made up of Nathan McClellan and Kristin DiCara, is in the studio this morning to talk about their music and upcoming shows, and to perform "Cruel Tide," a song off their CD. [follow the link for the whole interview] - Fox Channel 7
WSCH Television show “207”
Featuring: Mystic Folk Opera
[transcript]
Rob Caldwell: Musician Nate McClellan met Kristin DiCara in Denver Colorado went he went to hear her sing and “the rest”, as they say, “is history”.
Kathleen Shannon: The two went on to join their music and their lives and have now settled here in Maine. Here to perform for us are Kristin and Nathaniel, better known as Mystic Folk Opera.
[song “The Script” is performed]
Kathleen: [applauding] That sounded great!
Rob: [clapping] Kristin DiCara, Nathan McClellan...Mystic Folk Opera. Now, when I heard that you were coming on and I didn't know anything about you I thought “[Mystic] Folk Opera” two musical terms that you don't hear together all that much. What's the story behind the name and the “Folk Opera”?
Nathan: [witlessly looking at Kristin] Oh---that's a good question.
Rob: [grins] You've been asked this before.
Kristin: [laughs] Alright!
Nathan: [nodding and deferring] We had to do a bit of soul-searching for it.
Kristin: [composed] Yeah, I think to start with, it was: “Where does the music come from for us?” It's kind of an unknown. When you sit down to write a song it's “Mystic”. You can't really explain that part. Just kind of let your heart take it in and then you put it down. And “Folk” was just because we have a lot of folk elements.
Rob: And Opera?
Nathan: “Opera” is more about the drama. All this stuff we sing is like a page from our lives. We're not perfect people. We're just living our lives and we're describing our experience as we're going through it.
[shrugs]
So that's where the opera kinda came from.
Kathleen: So you've just come out with your first CD.
Nathan: Yes
Kathleen: And we were talking about in the intro, how you met 14 years ago in Colorado.
Nathan: Yes.
Kathleen: What brings you to Maine?
Nathan: [flummoxed again] Oh boy!
KS: And why 14 years of collaborating before starting? [clearly amused by Nathan's unreadiness for such simple questions]
Nathan: Well, that actually brings up a good point, because our kids will not forgive us if we do not say Hi Nathania, Levi and...”
[overlapping]
Kristin: “...Elias”
Nathan: So, Portland's a great place to live. We did a lot of research before we came up here and the kids, you know? The kids.
Kathleen: Was the music scene a draw?
Kristin: Yes actually!
Nathan: Absolutely! 'Cause it's artsy.
Kristin: We moved from Denver back to New Jersey where I'm from. That wasn't the best for the music scene where we were. So, we wanted to go to a smaller city.
Rob: Alright. We're going to have you guys stick around and sing another song for us. If you'd like more information on Mystic Folk Opera we've got that on our website, just go to the 207 page. That's all for tonight, we're going to leave you with the music. Have a good night!
[song “I Am The Rain” is performed]
The end.
May 13
Cheap Thrill
From staff reports
Now that Kristin DiCara's and Nathan McClellan's youngest child is headed off to kindergarten, the Portland-based couple is making a return to performing. As the acoustic duo Mystic Folk Opera, the two recently released an album, "Secrets of a Hostile Sun." Go to mysticfolkopera.com to stream audio. The duo will be joined by Vermont-based roots trio Bread and Bones. Call 699-2994 for information.
click image to enlarge
Portland-based duo Mystic Folk Opera performs at North Star Music Cafe Friday night.
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: North Star Music Cafe, 225 Congress St., Portland
How much: Free
- WSCH [an informal transcript]
Nathan McClellan and Kristin DiCara, the husband-and-wife folk duo Mystic Folk Opera, perform their new song, "On Our Way," inspired by parents of children with autism. - Fox Channel 7
The band talks about their upcoming Autsim Benefit Show. - WLOB 95.5 FM
Mystic Folk Opera plays a live set! - WMPG 90.9 FM w/Chris Darling
Discography
Secrets Of A Hostile Sun [2009]
Photos
Bio
Mystic Folk Opera is an acoustic rock duo comprised of singer/songwriters Kristin DiCara & Nathan McClellan. Both musicians have extensive live and studio experience from a variety of musical acts over the years. Nathan from Oceanside, CA, a veteran of the L.A. underground rock scene, was the lead guitarist and key melody-maker of the Southern California powerhouse Joey Bitchen which graced stages all over the entertainment-driven region. They also received some very important radio placements on KLOS [LA] and Magic 102 [SD] amongst others. Kristin [originally from New Jersey] knows what it means to hustle gigs as a live performer and when she first met Nathan, she was making a splash with her unique voice that didn't need all the candy coating Nathan was accustomed to treating his music with.
The pair were introduced by a mutual friend at one of Denver's premier venues The Mercury Cafe one night when Kristin was headlining there. Needless to say, they hit it off both musically and personally; eventually they formed their first project together, Kismet Calls. This musical sojourn would immediately take them all over the state of Colorado and had them warming up the airwaves on several college radio stations...Their ongoing musical dialogue has been a gradual conjoining of these two starkly different worlds ever since; the angst-riddled mania of progressive thrash-glam with the simple, straight-forward acoustic sensibilities of a more peaceful bent.
Beyond their unique admixture of an energetically charged Drama Rock blended with a more delicate tending to vocal harmonies; one of the most compelling parts of MFO [as they are called for short] is in the backstory of their real life struggles and triumphs as a couple however; along with how their life episodes tie in to the music they perform. After the duo got married in 1998 they moved to New Jersey and they started a family. The songs which emerged from this period of time play like a soundtrack to the married life "for better AND worse" as they like to say. Out of this they chalked up a huge catalogue of quality tunes, but, perhaps more importantly, developed what would eventually become a more recognizable style that they could call their own; rising once again with a new breed of musicality between them. Now, armed with a name befitting the experience their music projects, they are back on the scene up in the artistic haven of Portland, Maine building a presence with a sound that works surprisingly well in its rawest possible form...cutting and driven acoustic guitars and delicate harmonies brandishing deep, powerfully evocative, lyrics.
Feel The Buzz: MFO has already had three TV appearances; one on the local sensation 207 and twice on Good Day Maine. They've received airplay on radio MPBN; were a featured artist on “Stay Tuned” with Shawn Henderson ~ WSCA 106.1FM in Portsmouth; have enjoyed positive press in "GO Magazine" along with Portsmouth's "Seacoast Scene". Recently, they've also made appearances on WLOB 95.5 FM as well as WMPG's "Us Folk" w/Chris Darling on 90.9 FM
Links
