Frank Critelli’s ​“Muse” Spans Generations

A strummed guitar. An organ’s warm, held guitar. A bent note from a guitar like an invitation. Then Frank Critelli’s declarative voice: ​“I didn’t know what it was called, but I was glad when you called,” he sings. ​“I called you back / No one could predict / one drink would lead to that kiss on your neck / And I almost didn’t recognize / A familiar look in faraway eyes / But I knew you were someone else in disguise / And there was no turning back.”

So begins ​“The Muse,” the title track from the latest EP from musician and music community organizer Frank Critelli. In his career as a performer, since the 1990s Critelli has recorded with some of New Haven’s finest, from the dearly departed James Velvet, to Mighty Purple guitar virtuoso Jon Rodgers, to Mercy Choir leader Paul Belbusti. At the same time, Critelli has been a fixture in connecting musicians to music venues and organizing shows in New Haven and around the state. It’s thus not surprising that Critelli should be able to draw from musicians across the city to help him bring his songs to life. 

But The Muse shows just how deep those connections can go, as Critelli’s crew on this album features both longtime collaborator Mark Mirando on keyboards and a few musicians from the generation that established itself as heirs to New Haven’s indie scene a few years ago: Sam Carlson and Ilya Gitelman (of Ports of Spain) on drums and guitar, respectively, Mike Voyce on bass, and Cary Pollick on additional electric guitar.

The result is an album that feels both relaxed and invigorating. ​“The Muse” works on slow builds, ebbs and flows, rises and falls, before returning to where it started. ​“The Outlaw” charges forward on driving drums, dirty, aggressive guitar, and vocals in which Critelli does a call and response with himself. And ​“Lost Weekend” has an easy barroom swing that captures the spirit of new friends playing music together, discovering a shared language and sensibility.

Anchoring all of it is Critelli’s voice — not just his singing voice, but his songwriting voice, which can range from simple and direct to convoluted and poetic in the span of a single verse. The songs on ​“The Muse” sound like songs one gets to write only after having written a hundred previous songs (if they’re old songs of Critelli’s that he finally got around to recording here, then consider this reporter duly fooled). They comfortably expand the typical songwriting forms to offer plenty of familiarity to invite everyone in, and enough surprises to catch the ear again and again. Critelli is now a seasoned hand at this, but as the title of the album suggests, he’s as inspired as ever.