“Musically, the track is a delightfully woozy affair, recalling the likes of Katy Kirby or Lomelda, as Mol’s unhurried vocals are accompanied by slow-moving slacker-tinged guitars and the slow progress of the rhythm section, which wades forward despite the resistance, like a spoon through golden syrup. It gives the track a wonderfully unhurried quality, the audio equivalent of a lazy Sunday afternoon as if it’s got nowhere to be and no one to see. The opening track on GOOSE, Still Tryin’ seems like a wonderful scene setter for the album to follow, a swirling storm of ideas and emotions, it feels beautiful yet also fragile, a balloon ready to burst and spill out messy, brilliant humanity.”
For the Rabbits Premiere - Still Tryin’ - Nov. 14, 2023
“Molly’s voice is her ultimate weapon. It’s sensitive, rangy, and capable of murmurs, shouts, and chorus-pure melodies. She plays it like the instrument it is, pulling back and letting loose as the lyrics and the surrounding music dictate. It’s a wonderful thing to hear. Catch her on the road this year and be captivated.” - Nick Lerangis “Hidden Gem” The Revue
The DEEP END DIVE music video wins CityBeat’s 2023 Best of Cincinnati Staff Selection for BEST MUSIC VIDEO FILMED IN A LOCAL POOL
A LITTLE HELLO is WYSO’s February 2023 Album of the Month!
“…Sullivan, assisted by a wide crew of musicians across the Cincinnati area, delivers eight indie-pop gems across the EP, ranging in style from bouncy keyboard-led jaunts to lilting ballads. We begin with the title track, an ode to accepting and cultivating new love that bobs along with joyous energy, halfway through dropping to a slink only to build right back up again. Taking a similar subject but an opposing musical approach, we hear the arresting “Fight 4 U,” where tempos slow down and Sullivan’s vocals oscillate between layered loops and haunting lower register verses. Sullivan excels at memorable lines, like the opening to “Bury The Hatchet,” succinctly wrapping up the song’s thesis of forgone understanding in a handful of words: “How can we bury the hatchet when you’re keepin’ it hidden?”. Sullivan’s deft turns of phrase are equally matched with a gift for melody, the way she sings a line just as memorable as the words themselves.
The proliferation of recordings as the defining feature of many kinds of music is both a blessing and a curse. Many artists have dense, lengthy catalogs full of songs to discover and dissect, while others remain a little more mysterious, living an existence more in a moment than on a medium. To that end, I’m pleased to finally have more songs from Mol Sullivan I can listen to at my leisure, that material stretching back years has finally been put to tape. For an artist with at least a decade of experience under her belt already, let’s hope A Little Hello is not just a simple greeting, but the opening of a long and fruitful musical conversation.” - Evan Miller, WYSO
Various Small Flames - Mol Sullivan - Still Tryin’
“Now Mol Sullivan has returned with ‘Still Tryin’, the album’s opening track and the one which grounds its themes. The first song written after the break-up which would eventually precipitate an effort towards sobriety, it uses a hushed, bruised style to welcome the listener into a raw period of life. But there’s a glimmer of something else too, a newfound freedom to move towards some better future. Set deep in those early days of a new beginning where everything feels possible yet tenuous and a little too vivid to bear. “It is a song that I still feel very deeply about, even some six years since I initially wrote it,” Sullivan describes. “It gives me hope.”
Jon Doyle - Various Small Flames - Nov. 15, 2023
Mol Sullivan - "Deep End Dive" | Post-Trash Premiere
“The video for the single adds to the eerie tranquility of the song tenfold, depicting all the joys of summer wrapped in a bizarre haze and filtered through apathetic reserve. We have one way tennis games, a melting ice cream cone, several costume changes, a cherry red ice pop covering Mol's lips like blood and a pool party comprised of formation swimmers flanking Sullivan as she floats on her back and strums a white Gibson in the water. It's a terrifyingly normal scene, yet still utterly surreal, and brings to the fore the way ordinary pleasures can seem haunted by some unspoken trauma or regret lurking just beneath the surface. The shots are compelling and picturesque and are vivid in the way dreams are, and the song is dreamlike as well: It's like Lana del Rey meets Grizzly Bear in a Cincinnati dive bar, and if that doesn't sound like a dream then you haven't been getting enough sleep.”
Alex Riendl - Post Trash - July 29, 2022
Foxy Digitalis Video Premiere: Mol Sullivan “Bury the Hatchet”
“Bury the Hatchet” explores how avoidance and intimacy conspire to bring on longing and heartbreak. Sullivan is pointed, asking in the opening verse over emotive guitar leads and buoyant keyboard arrangements, “How can we bury the hatchet when you’re keeping it hidden? How can we unearth the truth and still find room for forgiveness?” Presented through a narrative that sees a wide-eyed version of Sullivan dressed as a cowgirl, navigating a bright-hued world where the cracks are beginning to show. It’s an incredible, strangely-moving video directed and produced by Sullivan.”
Brad Rose - Foxy Digitalis - Jan. 30, 2023
If It’s Too Loud / A Little Hello EP Review
“Cincinati's Mol Sullivan has been making music for about ten years, but she's about to release her first studio album. The first single, "A Little Hello," is one of the most unique slices of indie pop we've heard in a while. The song is an upbeat indie pop song that is reminding me a lot of Juliana Hatfield (both Sullivan's voice and the way she delivers the phrase "give it a spin"), but a far poppier version. (It's kind of like a hybrid of Juliana Hatfield and newer artists like Lucy Dacus.) As pop as the song may be, Sullivan injects just enough of an indie rock edge into "A Little Hello" to keep it from being too pop for some of us snobbier listeners. There are also the occasional country twang flourishes that give the song an entirely different vibe. This is a fun song that is going to win over a lot of people.”
Ken Sears - If It’s Too Loud - Jan. 12, 2023
Molly Sullivan: Winter '13
-Jim Nolan, WVXU
“It would not behoove anyone to underestimate Molly Sullivan as simply a pretty girl with a pretty voice who might do well to play in a coffee shop somewhere. Sullivan is a serious and accomplished songwriter with a mass of talent and ability. She does not write music to make you comfortable while you sip your mocha-soy half-caf latte. She will challenge you emotionally, intellectually and turn everything you think you know about the female singer-songwriters upside-down.”
WVXU In The Studio With Molly Sullivan
Interview And Live Performance, Oct. 2019
Mol chats sobriety, social media anxiety, collaboration, and songwriting with local hero Jim Nolan <3
photo by sweetie darlin’ Ryan Back