Jesse Malin - Mercury Retrograde [album]

Adeline Records

December 30, 2008, 09:03 PM

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Jesse Malin is a fine artist of Rock & Roll. His latest effort, Mercury Retrograde, is his fifth album in six years and features 13 tracks of live music recorded over two nights at Mercury Village in New York City, Malin’s hometown. The album also features five previously unreleased studio tracks only available on the UK version.

Live albums tend to lend themselves to a more intimate experience with the artists and Mercury Retrograde is no exception. As a novice to the work of Jesse Malin it was a pleasure to be introduced to the singer-songwriter via this live album. In between each song Malin converses with the audience and explains the stories behind the music.

Malin excels throughout the entire album via a stripped down acoustic sound and a signature folk style voice that exudes originality and sincerity.

Malin’s strength is his ability to transcribe the experiences of his day-to-day life to his lyrics. In “Hotel Columbia” he sings of his experiences at a hotel where he frequently stays while touring. “High Lonesome” chronicles his experiences as a recording artist and displays his distaste for the industry side of music as he sings, “Once a business lawyer tried to wine and dine and destroy you.”

Other than a pure acoustic sound, Malin includes piano, strings, and tambourines in many of the tracks. After the first five songs being purely acoustic guitar, the other instruments are introduced throughout the rest of the album, included at the perfect point.

The five studio tracks, included at the end of the album, offer listeners a chance to sample Malin’s studio sound. Listeners take note; Malin’s voice sounds effectively the same live as it does on the produced studio tracks, the mark of a true performer and musical talent.

Mercury Retrograde plays like an “MTV Unplugged album.” It’s an enjoyable album, a nice blend of well written lyrics, catchy music, and a talented performance.

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