AMERICAN singer / songwriter Jesse Malin has toured and recorded relentlessly for the last 7 years, working with the likes of Ryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen along the way. Bruce went on to record a duet with Jesse (Broken Radio), a favour he extends to very few.Stepping out with his new band, the St. Marks Social, Jesse is over in the UK promoting his latest album Love It to Life, stopping off at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Kicking off with Burning the Bowery, he quickly followed it up with Hotel Columbia from his second album, The Heat. This tells the tale of the London hotel where most rock bands find themselves staying when on tour in the capital. Jesse describes it as ‘The Shining meets Spinal Tap’.
Live favourites such as Wendy, Queen of the Underworld and Almost Grown from his debut LP The Fine Art of Self Destruction are all received with glee. Almost Grown contains a line about his mother, “she used to like Frank Sinatra, cigarettes and JFK”, which is typical of Malin’s candour. New song, All the Way from Moscow looks to the perilous financial precipice of the new world. “You don’t get your money back kid, but you get to keep on living” is Jesse’s take on the ‘plight’ of disenfranchised bankers.
After an emotional trip through Brooklyn, Jesse encores with a cover by punk band Bad Brains. He then leads us into Solitaire, a song about not needing anyone. Sung in unison by the crowd, it somehow transforms into an anthem for positivity.
To reinforce the point, Jesse spontaneously leaps from the stage and urges the audience to join him in sitting down on the floor, where, drenched in sweat, he holds court on the power of living the good life, quoting philosophers such as Camus, Sartre, Joe Strummer and Lemmy Kidderminster. Life affirming stuff, as seen by the P.M.A. sticker (Positive Mental Attitude) on Jesse’s Les Paul guitar. Welcome to Malin County – it’s well worth the journey.
DAVID DUFFIN 354 words
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