The 40 Story Radio Tower will experience its own British invasion when London-based Mike Marlin and The Melomaniacs take over the Internet airways this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, 14 W. Broadway in Jim Thorpe.

The English trio, singer and guitarist Mike Marlin, Paul Silver on the keyboard and Kim Murray playing jazz-inspired guitar, will create "soundscapes" for the audience to get lost in during their first ever Pennsylvania performance."People are genuinely amazed that three people can create the big soundscapes we do. We're hoping to bring people into the music and connect," he said. "We look like a folk trio, But we're not," he says with a laugh."My music is pretty particular. I try to create a Gothic American spin on things," he saidMarlin is excited to see the country that has molded his creativity from early childhood. Growing up outside of London, he says he was drawn to American bands."The Eagles. I'm a huge fan of Johnny Cash and Tom Petty. As a kid I always imagined I came from somewhere in the Midwest."The tour kicked off for The Melomaniacs in Wisconsin and will end in Washington, D.C., covering 2,700 miles and 13 cities."I've always wanted to tour in the States," said Marlin. "I lived in New York in the late '90s and had a whole career in technology before giving up and doing the crazy thing: Music."Marlin combines his smooth voice with an '80s style guitar and clean percussion. He often sets up his songs with an eerie melodic piano, buoyed by a cheery understated synthesizer."It's much easier to write song when you're older. You have more to write about," he said. "I think lyrics are very important and I do try and say depressing things in humorous ways."Using his David Bowie-esque baritone voice, Marlin sings themes of relationships with tongue-in-check humor and clever word play."I've spent an entire five-minute song setting up a pun," he says. "'Are you waving, I can't be sure. Am I drowning, I'm far from shore.' I love language. For me really, it's poetry, and that's what I'm thinking when I write lyrics."Marlin tried his hand at the band scene during his college years at Oxford playing bass in small bands around town. After graduation he took on the traditional office job until early 2000s when he recorded a cover of The Bee-Gees' "Staying Alive.""It was so ridiculous, but it got radio play. Based on that single I got an agent, then a gig opening for another band," said Marlin.There was just one problem."I had to fess-up. Not only did I not have a band, I also never sang a song to another human being."The performance went well however, and in 2011, he released his debut album "Nearly Man." Before he knew it, Marlin had created four albums."None of it was planned," he said.Now at the age of 51 - "I'm older than I look and younger than I feel" - Marlin is releasing a brand-new album.The ironically-named work, "The Secret to My Success," includes tracks such as "Gravity Lies," a type of compilation between Metallica's version of a ballad and a Bowie pop-song.Marlin says his guitar style stems from his love for British band, The Cure."I love their really dense riffs. I've always loved very hypnotic riffs with underlying chords that keep changing until they eventually resolve," he said.Marlin looks forward to surprising the crowd during Sunday's performance and says he will work to include them in the experience."It's like a whole book in three to eight minutes. You get to tell your story in a really compelling way to the audience. It's a really direct way to communicate."Also this weekendOn Friday, Ten Strings and a Goat Skin, young, gifted musicians from Canada's Prince Edward Island, will brings their uplifting traditional Celtic sound to the opera house stage at 8 p.m.A bilingual trad/fusion trio, they are recent recipients of the 2015 ECMA's award for World Music Recording of the Year.Also appearing is Jim Thorpe's Len Brunson, a singer-songwriter and guitarist who brings his wide-ranging acoustic sound to the stage.On Saturday afternoon, the opera house goes to the dogs with the award-winning Olate Dogs, winners season seven of "America's Got Talent."Led by Richard Olate and his son Nicholas, the Olate Dogs are a high-energy, fast-paced canine theatrical act filled with amazing dog tricks, human acrobatics and humor. The 10 dogs in the troupe (many of them rescues) are all pampered members of the family and travel in their own air-conditioned, tricked out trailer.Embodying the American dream, Richard grew up in South America in a poor family. He got his start at 10 when he rescued his first street dogs and found he had a gift. He combined this gift of training dogs and compassion with hard work, enabling him to support his entire family by age 12 with his dog troupe.He came to the attention of a circus group and found himself performing in the United States at age 33, which is when the rise of the Olate Dogs began in earnest.Winning America's Got Talent in 2012 was the beginning of their dreams comes true. Opening doors previously only imagined they are now America's most recognized dog entertainers.This is a show for the whole family. Doors open at 1 p.m. with the show to follow at 2.Tickets are available at the opera house website at

www.mcohjt.com, at Soundcheck Records, Jim Thorpe, 570-325-4009. The opera house box office is open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 570-325-0249. The venue is open from noon until 5 p.m. on show days, and tickets are available for most shows at the door at showtime.