Blog The Possibility of enjoying Mark Croft

I'd imagine everyone who listens to a lot of music has some sticking points. The first time I listened to local songwriter Mark Croft's 2007 EP, Permanent Ink, I encountered a couple of mine: That really eager, percussive way in which many young folk-influenced artists play acoustic guitar; a slightly strained vocal style that's friendly and heart-on-sleeve but maybe laying it on a bit thick; and so forth. In short, he's in a genre that could go either way for me. But then his song "Is It Gonna Be Funky?" threw a completely different element into the mix. As I listened to his new EP, The Possibility Of Disaster, ahead of his show this Saturday, May 30, at the Club Tavern, I decided to go back over this one more time.

In "Is It Gonna Be Funky?" Croft sings about how one day he wrapped his car around a tree, died, and then found angels and the devil trying to coax his soul into their respective eternal dwelling places. The deciding factor? Here comes the chorus! "Is it gonna be funky? / 'Cause it better be funky, Lord!" At first, I merely thought it was funny as hell, but this kinda-folk, kinda-funk, kinda-hip-hop tune sends two important messages: Croft is apparently willing to tell God how to run his paradise, and Croft's willing to put himself on a somewhat goofy level for the amusement of others.

"Is It Gonna Be Funky?" by Mark Croft

I'm not going to make some grand counter-intuitive argument about how Croft's music should be considered cool, and I'm not going to pump this up with hyperbolic praise—I don't think I'd even rank him among my favorite locals. I'm just trying to explain how an artist of this stripe managed to earn my distinctly non-mocking respect. He continues to do so on Possibility, bouncing through "Momma Don't Come Around" and the slightly shaky, high vocal hook of "Superheroes." On "Spinning Rhymes," that perky guitar style shows up again, but somehow he manages to pull this off without making it cloying or condescending. Sometimes what's presented as a heartfelt pop song actually works well enough as a heartfelt pop song.

Yeah, it probably helps Croft that his music somewhat resembles what the big bad music industry out there wants. Then again, there's a decent amount of subtlety to the production and execution here, perhaps even some humility. He manages to do his thing without being Madison's Daniel Powter or G. Love, and for that I am thankful.