Description

Jesse Malin – New York Before The War

13 track album out on CD and vinyl.

Arriving almost five years on from his last record (2010’s Love It to Life), Jesse’s artistic ambitions for New York Before the War were high. He knew he had to make it count. “I wanted to make a record that encompassed everything I’ve done since I started with my hardcore band, Heart Attack, when I was twelve or thirteen, through bands like D Generation, and then my solo career. But I also wanted to challenge the listeners who have been with me – and challenge myself.”

Pared down from close to forty songs, New York Before the War more than matches that ambition. It is the soundtrack to a life lived with meaning. “This is an era when music is so disposable,” Malin worries. “People talk about the death of the album and even the death of rock & roll. But this is not just a shuffle of songs. There is a cinematic thread, a story.”

Sessions for the album began in Virginia, Nashville before moving on to New York, finishing up at the Magic Shop in Soho. Players include such downtown New York all-stars as guitarist Derek Cruz, bassist Catherine Popper and drummer Randy Schrager. Don Dilego produced early sessions for the album in Virginia, and Malin and Cruz co-produced in New York. Brian Thorn, who worked on David Bowie’s The Next Day, engineered and mixed the album.

Opening with ‘The Dreamers’, a haunting ballad that evokes both the alienation and the sense of deep connection that travel can bring, the album moves on through darker meditations like ‘She’s So Dangerous’ and ‘Bar Life’. Elsewhere, taut, upbeat rockers like ‘Freeway’ (which features a blistering solo by the MC5’s Wayne Kramer) and ‘Turn Up the Mains’ (with Alejandro Escovedo on backing vocals) dictate the pace. Peter Buck contributes a vintage R.E.M.-style guitar part to ‘I Would Do It For You’, a tale of personal loyalty filled with longing and an aching sense of conviction.

Tracklist:
1. The Dreamers
2. Addicted
3. Turn Up The Mains
4. Oh Sheena
5. She’s So Dangerous
6. The Year That I Was Born
7. Boots Of Immigration
8. Freeway
9. Bent Up
10. She Don’t Love Me Now
11. Death Star
12. I Would Do It For You
13. Bar Life