Rolling Stone once described the music of New York-based singer/songwriter Mark Bacino as “steeped in the sparkly, head-bobbing melodicism of classic mid-’60s pop.” He stays true to this style on ‘Top of the World,’ offering ten excellent songs that occasionally evoke a pleasant melancholy. Much has changed since the release of ‘Pop Job…the Long Player!,’ the Marc Bacino album I play most often. It’s time to catch up.

You can find ‘Kaylee Hughes’ showcased on the Best Power Pop of 2024 Spotify Playlist.

Could you share the journey of bringing this record to life? How did all the pieces come together to create the final product?

The journey of bringing “Top of the World” to life was a long one. As with all my records before, a process filled with a combination of joy, hard work and heartache. Although this one took an especially long time to make and was crafted in fits and starts. Family and work responsibilities played a part in slowing the process, as did, of course, the Covid crisis. I’m always a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to making these things as well, so that never helps move things along. Also, the nature of how the album was recorded probably added to the lengthiness of the process. This go-around I worked with two different co-producers (Ron Zabrocki & Jay Sherman-Godfrey) in their studios as well as my own. We also did a lot of remote collaborations with many talented musicians, far and wide, via a lot of files floating around the interwebs. It all added up to being a bit of a complex production process, but in the end we got it done and ultimately all that stuff melts away when the record makes its way into the world, takes on its own life and folks begin to enjoy it. And really that’s the way it should be.

Within this collection, do you feel that the best song you’ve ever written finds its home? If not, what distinguishes this record’s essence from your prior work?

I always like to think the latest tunes I’ve written are my best but it’s really impossible for me to judge. And, ultimately, I’m not sure it’s my place to do so anyway. It’s always been kind of the same with every album I’ve made; you craft a record, a collection of songs, release it and those songs are really no longer yours, they belong to everyone that listens. Each person will have their own personal favorites and not-so favorites and each song will mean something slightly different to every listener. Some folks have kindly said that “Top of the World” holds my best songwriting to date. I’m flattered, but again, there’s really no way for me to judge, I’m too close to it all. I suppose if I had to choose one song that I’m most proud of from this new collection, I’d probably pick the tune “Shaky Hand.” Weird title and probably a weird little song, but I feel like I struck a good balance, lyrically speaking, on that one between the hyper-personal and the universal.

Defining a song’s completion can be elusive. How do you determine when a composition has reached its final, ready-to-record form?

Truth be told, I’m probably not a very laid back person, but in terms of songwriting I would describe myself as such. I really don’t sweat or force the process. I try to let the songs form as naturally as possible and come when they want to come. That may mean that a song idea might sit around, geminating, for years or it may mean that a tune may materialize in half an hour. It’s hard to say exactly when a composition is complete but somehow I just know and I tend to trust that feeling. A combination of experience and instinct, I guess.

Striking a balance between experimental artistry and commercial appeal is a challenge. How do you navigate this dynamic within your music?

I can’t say I’ve ever really worried too much about striking that balance – probably much to my financial detriment – but I’ve always been a big music fan first and foremost, so as such, when creating music I’ve always operated from the position that if I like the music I’m making, someone out there will probably enjoy it as well. My musical tastes are not that odd or left-of-center. I also think that chasing the commercial dragon is a slippery slope. As a songwriter, at the end of the day, you can only really be you and it’s best to remain as such. It’s ultimately what makes your work unique and special anyway. You can try and shoehorn your creations into some sort of “commercial” box but I think that end-result just always comes across as forced or inauthentic. In my opinion, Taylor Swift writes commercially successful songs not because she’s trying to, but because her personal brand of songwriting just happens to currently align with the zeitgeist.

Success can take on different meanings as time goes on. When envisioning success for this new record, what does that picture look like now?

I think when I was a younger artist around the time of my first commercial release (“Pop Job,” 1998) I was most definitely looking to swing for the fences in terms of success and my definition of that word at the time. The world and the music business was very different then. The goals for me and many of my contemporaries in that moment were to get a indie label record deal and a manager, which, in turn, would lead to a major label deal which was supposed to lead to fame, fortune and a life of musical happiness. I was lucky enough to achieve some of the aforementioned, but I still felt like “success,” as I defined it at the time, eluded me. A few years beyond that, I think my idea of success morphed into the thought that if I could just do nothing but make music, not necessarily my own, and pay the bills, that would be my new definition of success. After launching a freelance music production business that basically allowed me to make music for a living, I soon realized that the grass is not always greener. Everything comes with a price. These days, with some age and some experience under the belt, I realize success is – and it might sound corny – really about being happy and healthy and having people around you that you love. I very much enjoy having the opportunity and privilege to make my art and offer it to folks out in the world to enjoy, that’s a real gift, and of course I’d like the music to reach as many people as possible, but that’s kind of secondary in terms of my definition of “success” these days.