Bill Mallonee & The Darkling Planes: Winnowing
The life of a troubadour is often romanticized. Whether it’s
a fascination with the mysterious Woody Guthrie or the freedom supposed in Dylan’s
“Like a Rolling Stone,” most of us have fantasized about being the man with a
song and a guitar, rambling through the world and leaving a trail of songs,
like gold nuggets along the Rio Grande.
It sounds great for romance, but what about reality?
Bill Mallonee may be the closest thing we have to this
romantic idea in the flesh. Writing and recording since the late 1980s, Bill
has released close to sixty projects—most full-length, some EPs. Bill knows the
blistering road, the intimate house concert, and the small change to show for
it at the end of the night, yet he continues to put pen to paper and fingers to
fret board as he shares his gift of song.
With no superstructure of support or financial safety net,
he depends on his fan base to continue funding the projects. Earlier this year,
Bill decided to try Kickstarter, the now famous crowd sourcing platform. Within
days of posting his project, Kickstarter suffered a security breach, and Bill
opted to pull the plug rather than jeopardize any of his fans’ financial
safekeeping. Call it a false start, or
just another unlucky bump in the road; Bill dropped back to taking pre-orders
through his site and Bandcamp.
Winnowing, Bill’s
latest record, is now in post-production and scheduled to release in early
September, 2014. I recently spoke with him about the new songs, and even scored
a chance to give the tracks a listen.
Here’s what I found. (You can
hear my interview with Bill HERE.)
Bill told me that there’s something about the desert canyons
and the big sky that beckon
The opening three tracks (“Dover Beach”, “Those Locust
Years” and “Old Beat Up Ford”) blend together in mellow, contemplative swirl,
as if mesmerizing the listener like a desert sky. They pull us in with lines
like “Now I am not a scoffer / withholding his thanks / my purse it is empty /
my heart overflows its banks” in the opener. The reflection continues in track 3: “sunlight
sifting through the shadows / it seemed brighter way back then / and I walked
the world in wonder / all dressed up in my new skin.”
“Got Some Explaining to Do” breaks the opening spell with its
noisy guitars a la Neil Young and reminiscent of The Power & the Glory (2011). Full of clever lines and social
commentary, Bill admits an evil in the world, but refuses to answer for it;
instead he writes, “no matter what the disguise is/ well, you gotta give the
devil his due / but whoever he is / he’s got some explaining to do.”
The next two tracks “Dew Drop Inn” and “Blame it on the
Desert Whispering” could have easily found themselves on Bill’s album Dolorosa (2013). The stripped-down
musical arrangement and the narrative focus of geography capture the sense of
place that is unmistakably New Mexico. For instance, Bill sings on the former “The
road winds hard and the road winds cruel / hearts being what they are / Let’s
just say it will be ok / and I love you, just because.”
“In the New Dark Ages” has the signature of one of Bill’s
most ambitious albums, Locket Full of
Moonlight (2002). With Beatles-esque organ and guitars, Mallonee explores
the current state of expectations concerning relationships where “no one trusts
anyone… [and] they forget to have fun.”
The album was
originally going to share its title with track 8 “Hall of Mirrors / Room Full
of Woe,” and that doesn’t surprise me. This track is the musical epicenter of
the album, with its layered guitars grabbing the spotlight. And again, Mallonee delivers a tight metaphor
with the following: “Now Death is a boxer / always stalking the ring / grabs
all the prize money / and a few other things / with a 1-2 punch that’s been
stealing the show.” The track’s haunting tone continues, but the lyric turns a
hopeful corner with “what is lost is nothing compared to what gets found.”
“Now You Know” is like a letter to an old friend, with as
many questions as statements. With its delicate instrumentation, the song
sounds as if it could be performed on horseback, meandering through the canyon.
And once again, Mallonee weaves an historical perspective into his craft with
the following: “Well Caesar sat upon a
steed / and waited till the dawn / without a word the die is cast / across a
Rubicon / history's muddy, bloody boots / are ever marching on / now you know.”
This appears as a settled peace that no longer fights to answer questions about
the ever-elusive fame and notoriety hiding around the next bend. Instead, the
craftsman continues to apply his tools of melody and metaphor, with wit and
passion.
“Tap Your Heart on the Shoulder,” like “Now You Know,”
projects the feel of the troubadour, with the cadence of a slow ride near
sunset. The lyrics, too, paint the picture of a horse-mounted observer, depicting
this present age. Mallonee writes,
“Ain’t nothing left in Oklahoma / On your right or your left hand / We took
God’s good, green earth / and we turned it into sand.”
Overall, Winnowing
comes in at 10 cohesive tracks (just over 43 minutes). It’s a journey full of
questions, reflecting on the might-have-beens and the almost-but-not-quites of
one of the most prolific songwriting careers that has been all but overlooked.
From the haunting, opening track, Dover
Beach, to the closing track, Mallonee delivers a fresh collection of tunes
while he scrutinizes the cards he’s been dealt, sorting through both mistakes
and misfortunes. Closing out the album, he sings “Only so many smiles you can
fake…Hey reach over / tap your heart on the shoulder / and see if she’s still
awake.” While we’re left with unanswered inquiries—some that may never be
rejoined, we’re also left with these ten jewels of honest, though-provoking
melodies that cause us to examine our own steps and motives, and in their
stripped-down honesty, awaken our hearts from slumber.
