Bill Mallonee – Dear Life
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Posted On January 1, 2005
Like a high school sophomore looking for an A on a term paper, Bill Mallonee declares his thesis in the first line: “You need the songs of forever/All those ones about lost and found/After all this dust settles down.” Scratch all expectations of fuzz boxes, phase shifters, synthesizers. and multi-track harmonies; this is Mallonee in stripped-down, unhurried singer-songwriter mode. Dear Life, a sweet, quiet, folksy record filled with intelligent lyrics and deft musicianship, is done with that great instinct the ungodly prolific Athens, Georgia, musician (he’s released eighteen albums since 1991 either on his own or with Vigilantes Of Love) always has for what makes great pop music.
In spite of a deceptively minimalist feel, Mallonee has in fact assembled a smart, complex collection of songs that allow him to stretch out, from the earnest acoustic strummer “Where The Light Does Fall”, to the jangly pop-rocker “Ready And Red Eyed”, to the hilariously skewed love song “I Will Never Be Normal (After This)” with its tongue-in-cheek analysis of both illegal and mainstream drug culture, to the bright country tune “Who Will You Love?” with its delightful just-might-do-a-cowboy-yodel Slim Whitman vocal dynamics.
