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Is there life on other planets outside the alt-country solar system? Bill Mallonee tries his hand as a lone Vigilante.

For more than a decade, the Vigilantes of Love have been making some of the best unheard music around. Dancing around the worlds of Americana and alt-country, Bill Mallonee and his ever-changing line-up have brought jangly guitars, harmonicas, and pedal steels into clubs, bars, festivals, and homes on both sides of the Atlantic.

All that touring in the UK must have made an impact on Mallonee. He's left the band name behind, now recording as a solo artist with a decidedly Brit-pop feel. These songs are dripping with organs and distorted guitars. As Mallonee pursues a new sound, it only makes sense to leave the Vigilantes name behind. After bouncing from label to label, the band developed a strong following, complete with plenty of critical success. But as often seems to be the case, record sales were never part of that equation. At this point Vigilantes of Love carries a certain amount of baggage. The VoL sound was pigeon-holed to a certain genre. Plus, the name carries the weight of all those years of record label politics, not necessarily such a good thing. Who can blame Bill Mallonee for giving it all his heart with a fresh start? A new name and new sound could cure some ills, but certainly not all.

Does the new sound work on his first national solo release Perfumed Letter? Not as well as it did on VoL's last album Summershine, but it still makes for a fun and insightful listen.

The opener, "She's So Liquid" showcases the Bill Mallonee sound. Dreamy , distorted guitars and warm organ sounds encase Mallonee's earnest vocals.

Mallonee had shown signs of pursuing a college radio friendly sound, with songs like "It's Not Bothering Me" on his band's last album. But there are no percussive anthems here. Mallonee is clearly recalling his childhood favorites from the British invasion.

"Extraordinary Girl" is a beautiful two-and-a-half minute pop song, ranking with "Extreme North of the Compass" and "Tempest" in that aspect in Mallonee's catalog.

"Two Become One" seems to be an overplayed lyrical thought, although the line "you'll believe in magic with these higher mathematics" is appreciated.

The opening lines of "Wintergreen" showcase Mallonee's playful and poetic lyrics.

she pops a stick of wintergreen
outside the cash machine
it's lonely being lovely all the time
yeah when the rules all changed
the strange terrain of love's modern games
the ones that you play in your mind

Mallonee invites us "to live inside this skin again" as he's done so many times before, on the song "After All You've Done for Me".

The album concludes with the sparse and meandering "Shirts and Skins" before the real finale, "Your Bright Future" (the best song of the Electromeo EP), resurfaces as a bonus track. "Future" is driven, purposeful even. Mallonee speaks of building a bridge in an effort to redeem a relationship on the brink. Sin and redemption have always burned under Mallonee's skin, and this album is no different. The sound may have evolved, but this is still the Vigilante we've known for so many years.

The biggest complaint many diehard VoL fans will have: They've heard most of these songs already.  Many were featured on Mallonee's first true solo album Fetal Position. Now, Paste Magazine has started its own label, and they've culled songs from Fetal Position along with several new tracks to create an album far more cohesive than either of the two solo CDs Mallonee released in the last year.

It's no secret Paste, the magazine, on-line store, and label has long supported Bill and the Vigilantes of Love, so it only makes sense to launch a label with Mallonee as the flagship artist.

Steve White 7/22/03

The new Bill Mallonee solo offering Perfumed Letter opens with the re-use of “She’s So Liquid” from the album “Fetal Position”. Also used again on the album is “Wintergreen” With great lines like “Tears were words and then again, fallen down like English rain” and “dead of night and the city's bright, caught blinking at the traffic light. The tapes are so hard to erase”(from those songs respectively) i’m not complaining. In many ways they fit in remarkably better here. As does the theme of lost love from “Locket Full of Moonlight” which shows up in the project as well. It seems this is because this is the album Bill has been trying to make for two years, and the album his fans have been waiting for. I declare and anticipate the chorus to follow, “Perfumed Letter” is an amazing album which stands up to Bill’s best work throughout his career. The songs open up the way its title’s imagery would suggest, leaving its reader engrossed and hanging on every word.

The title track is Bill’s take two at the lamentation of love, where this time he succeeds. Here the depressing feel of his last album drops a couple notches in favor of something better described as heartbreaking, but much more accessible. The song laments “The moon is on the waters, the hands move on your face of a clock that has no memory of our farewell embrace”. “Life on other planets” tells about looking back on a childhood hope and innocence, remembering a time “when you believed in God and new romantics and life out there on other planets”. The beautiful music setting fits perfectly to the lyrics and is both well thought out and pleasantly catchy.

“Extraordinary Girl” starts off with a great riff, and is perhaps one of the most hopeful sounding things ever in a Bill Mallonee song. The background vocals are remarkable, and the song is beautifully toe tapping and poppy. The song showcases the beautiful thing about what Bill has done. The fact that once his music shined so brightly in a perfect setting of Americana roots-rock, and now he has just as masterfully conquered a more brit-pop soundscape. “Two Become One”, possibly the highlight of the album, starts off with a pulsating organ beat. It’s filled great pop sensibilities you would expect from an early Blur album (I hear particular similarities to the sound of the “Modern Life is Rubbish” album.), yet the influences here show off what has to be a myriad of sources (but which have to be British… yes yes, very British). This results in production that rivals the beauty and creativity of the Vigilantes of Love work “Sumershine.” The effect is captivating in a way Bill Mallonee has never been before.

“Transparence” is greatly heartbreaking. It tells about “Silver transparence, morphine drapes beside your bed, it’s the only way to take off the edge”. Here is the classic postmodern Bill, sharing the stories of complex characters in his music. “That Little Something” somehow teems with joy and optimism despite its lyrics diatribe of impossible love which won’t work out. Bill asks “Wonder why it feels like a coin toss, all the bridges that we build won’t hold when we cross” and the drums and guitars then release into a furious fill before coming back down to a tender conclusion. It’s amazing production and quite an amazing thing to hear. The song then features some terrific background vocals and a nice ending guitar solo.

In “After All You’ve Done for Me” the vocals are passionate and collide nicely with a unique faux horn and strings which send the song soaring with a remarkably original sound. On the closing “Shirts & Skins”, Bill manages to pull another rabbit from his hat. This one sounds like nothing he’s done before. The wall of noise swells and builds around the piano in a very captivating fashion. Lyrically the song abandons most of the album’s focus on relationships and ends the album with a focus on just letting go of everything we have. This track concludes the main work of the album, but a bonus track “Your Bright Future” is featured which doesn’t really fit the material well, but is a great song off the Vigilantes of Love EP Electromeo so therefore a nice addition. 

The production of Perfumed Letter is so amazing and provides for something beautiful to listen to (I’m especially a fan of the percussion!), but the driving force which is always there in Bill’s work is the lyrics. This is what truly makes the project something special. These songs turn heartache into a beautiful celebration. The quality is consistently good throughout the entire ambitious album and is Bill Mallonee at the top of his game. Although it seemed at first the solo career material couldn’t rival that from the Vigilantes of Love years, Perfume Letter proves that the third time is a charm. Bill’s future work for years to come will constantly be compared to the material here. Superb. Simply a perfect album.

Matt Kilgore (7/22/03)

When the Vigilantes of Love parted company at the beginning of 2002, it officially marked the start of Bill Mallonee's solo career. The former roots-rock/Americana/alt-country band front man released two home-grown discs in the following year, hinting at the pop sensibilities featured on VoL's final album, Summershine. Meanwhile, the brains behind Paste Music and Paste Magazine were putting together Paste Records. The fledgling label has come together with the veteran musician for the national release of Mallonee's latest disc, Perfumed Letter, and the verdict is in: if the Vigilantes of Love were Southern-fried Americana, Bill Mallonee is Brit pop.

Long-time followers need not despair, however. This move toward pop accessibility has not included a jettison of the smart turns-of-phrase or thought-provoking lyrics that have prompted some to compare Mallonee's songwriting to that of Dylan and his ilk. Indeed, often Mallonee gives us pause by wrapping a raw look at life's disappointments and failures in beautiful, symphonic layers or bright, catchy choruses.

Several songs on Perfumed Letter were lifted from Mallonee's first indie solo release, Fetal Position, to give them the national spotlight they deserve.  The first of these starts the disc. "She's So Liquid" sports a very sixties psychedelic influence, ala Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, replete with layers of orchestral synths. The lush, symphonic sound continues with the title track, featuring more synths, and a bright, catchy chorus: "your love is fire and all aglow / it's shimmering with vertigo / we're shining hard like video."

"Life on Other Planets," also originally on Fetal Position, uses a Moog to highlight extra-terrestrial implications as Mallonee sings, "You believed in God and new romantics / life out there on other planets." The song touches on quiet regret with the bridge, "I'm always falling in love / it's the least you can do / I'm always falling in love / with something other than you."

"Two Become One" is one of the most catchy, fun songs on the disc. The chorus easily gets stuck in the listener's head after the first spin. Here is an ode to melding of lives and the experience of falling in love: "Two become one / and I hope you're having fun / You'll believe in magic / with these higher mathematics."

This is followed by another memorable melody in "Silver Transparent," a lilting tune that sounds like an August evening. There are some classic Mallonee lyrics contained within, juxtaposing images of blessing and curse: "It was louder than a bomb in me / it was softer than a kiss," and, "Sometimes God opens up the deepest of wounds."

"Crescent Moon" is a pretty love song that touches on the awkward self-consciousness of one falling in love. Mallonee sings, "...Looking down I asked if I could kiss you / even that you walked me through," and later, "Stumbling when I come / tripping over my own dumb tongue / for God's sake, don't these mamma's boys ever grow up?"  In the chorus, the singer displays his desire to please his sweetheart despite his flaws and limits: "If you wished on the brightest star / would you consider a crescent moon? / If I'm late, honey wait / I will bring it soon."

Except for a postscript bonus cut that previously appeared on an Internet-only release, the album's big finish is "Shirts & Skins." This song starts with simply strummed chords and builds to an anthematic, symphonic conclusion ala Radiohead.

Despite the fact that the songs on this record came from no fewer than three separate recording sessions over as many as three years, Perfumed Letter plays out as a cohesive whole. Mallonee teamed up with Tom Lewis to produce a lush musical landscape. Thematically, Mallonee touches on familiar subjects such as pain and joy, loss and redemption, failure and hope. His timing may be perfect: With Perfumed Letter, Mallonee offers perhaps his most accessible effort to date with a young label -- made up of fans of his work -- firmly behind him.

Review by Dave Kerschbaum
22 July 2003

Perfumed Letter stands out as yet another new beginning for Bill Mallonee. He's found a new home at Paste, a quickly growing powerhouse of Americana with its on-line store, nationally distributed magazine, and new record label. Mallonee's also found a new sound. He's injected his classic folk-rock with a heavy dose of Brit-pop with mixed results.

To long-time fans, this new version of Mallonee might strike a few bad chords. The keyboards and electronic sounds may sound out of place or just "cheesy." A perfect example, "Two Become One" sounds very much like a stripped down Lightning Seeds song. But this new direction really shouldn't catch anyone by surprise. Ever since VoL's Summershine, Mallonee has been heading this direction musically.

What's not new about this album is, surprisingly, many of the songs. Four songs are taken off of last year's Fetal Position and another, “Your Bright Future,” appeared on the Electromeo EP. In addition, if you've seen Bill play live recently, you've probably heard most, if not all, of the new compositions.

Of the recycled songs, I was glad to see “Crescent Moon” included here. Originally released on Fetal Position, this little gem is easily the most moving song to be written by a Christian musician since Rich Mullin's “My Deliverer.” On initial listen, this song may appear to be a rather simple story of new-found love. On further inspection, the song becomes a powerful and profound statement of the magic and mystery of life and love. The music evokes a perfect feeling of awkward anticipation with just a touch of the sadness that is inherent in growing up. And lyrically, Mallonee tells a story of human interaction while alluding to the greater truths of our interaction with God: "Where do I begin? / Where do I venture in? / To come inside this love / That's sacramental."

Much as Nick Cave's love songs are shaded by a touch of the dark and sinister, Mallonee's love songs have always been colored by a stroke of melancholy. But in “Two Become One,” we find Mallonee displaying a bit of whimsy: "You'll believe in magic / With these higher mathematics / Two become one." While Mallonee may be exploring new sonic vehicles, he is clearly retaining his lyrical wit and poignancy. In “Silver Transparent,” "Your words are just a web / That you weave to cover yourself / Your words are just a wall / That's between you and everybody else."

This album is the first step in a new direction for Mallonee, effectively looking back and closing a chapter while moving forward to begin a new one. So while some may be disappointed with the lack of new material or the new sound of this release, hopefully it is a marker of great things to come.

Darryl A. Armstrong 08/16/03

When I asked Bill Mallonee about his motivation for taking such a drastic leap from one style guitar driven roots-rock to synth-based Britpop, he replied, “I like staying in motion. Most of the great artists are moving targets.” 

Now available from Paste Records, Perfumed Letter is the first official solo album for Mallonee, who turned out several albums as the front man for Vigilantes of Love. And he has clearly moved on to a new place, a new sound, a new vision.  Whether it suits him or not… that’s open for debate.

The album, produced by Mallonee, Tom Lewis, and Paul Wilkinson, is unmistakably Mallonee. The lyrics explore the wounds of relationship breakdown, guilt, regret, and near-despair, but just the fact that he is still openly appealing the Divine assures us that he has not lost a handle on hope.

It is good to hear him exploring different territory vocally. He sounds liberated, trying quieter modes, layering his voice into harmonies that at times echo the Beach Boys. It’s an ambitious work, lyrically playful and complex, with one foot in Beatles-land and the other in Dylan country. His signature style of wordplay and doublespeak is all over this rather light affair. And he proves yet again that he can turn out hooks with the best of them.

I applaud Mallonee’s desire to try new things, and there’s nothing wrong with a venture into Britpop. (He started that direction on VoL's Summershine after all.) But something doesn’t feel right. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but for me the primary problem is Mallonee’s voice. It's a great voice... for rock and roll, but not for pop. He sings with the rough edge of a southern country boy and the soul of a Jeff Tweedy, a Mike Scott, sometimes even Steve Earle. It doesn't quite work for this new music, at least for this listener. Moogs, Mellotrons, and Clavanovas may be a match for power pop bands. But these songs long for heavier guitars.

Perhaps he is bored with the roots rock he’s known for. Lord knows he has worked hard at such stuff, pushing Vigilantes of Love records up a steep hill for several years, never quite breaking out onto the airwaves the way that critics and fans anticipated, never quite receiving the recognition he so clearly deserved. 

Having said that, there are pleasant songs inside this untailored suit, and they may find more winning arrangements in upcoming live performances. “She So Liquid” is a great song, in spite of what sounds like a half-hearted performance here. “Wintergreen” will become a fan favorite on the strengths of its lyrics alone, but here it is weakened by a guitar solo that sounds more like a rip-off of George Harrison than a tribute or a reference.

“Luminous” adopts the lyrical mode of U2’s “Mysterious Ways,” describing the consoling spirit as the muse or the beloved… perhaps even as Mary herself. 

Made a visit to your garden
To come there and ask for pardon
My offense was very great, 
my defense was second rate
She’s luminous, ya dig?
Yeah she’s so liquid

The swirling, retro-keyboard sounds that introduce the title cut are a sign of trouble ahead. Synthesizers are a dangerous thing. They can provide subtle accents, as they do for The Innocence Mission. They can introduce us to new sounds (Radiohead), or they can sound retro. On Perfumed Letter, the keyboards simply sound uninventive. They’re not arresting or experimental as in a Radiohead song. They don’t glow, percolate, and pop the way they do for XTC, U2, World Party, or R.E.M.’s recent forays into power pop. There is nothing remarkable about them, whereas the guitars for Vigilantes were energetic, even riveting. In short, they sound like they could be easily reproduced by any keyboard player who stepped up to the keys.

He strikes a better balance in a few numbers: “Life on Other Planets” finds a glowing keyboard/guitar mix similar to REM’s “All the Way to Reno,” becoming one of the album’s strongest tracks. The lyrics stick, detailing the allure of false advertising and the yearning for a restoration of childlike faith: 

I’m always falling in love 
With something other than you...
Drowning in a sadness I can’t hardly name
Easily swayed by the power of suggestion.
It’s always hard getting past those first impressions
I believe it turns to gold
Watch it begin to unfold
Like a story you’re once told
You believed in God
You knew Romantics
Life out there on other planets

This all reminds me of the muddled puddle into which Bruce Cockburn stumbled in the 80s. While he wrote some of his strongest songs during that decade, he also made the recordings painfully dated, punctuating them with dominating keyboards that robbed them of the organic, visceral quality of his earlier and more recent records. He got rid of the superficial gloss and plays them in sparse, guitar-driven versions that resonate. Similarly, Mallonee's discovery of keyboards has diluted the power of his compositions. Perhaps he too will come around to the same decision, or else he might find new and surprising ways to use keyboards that will produce something truly original for the listener. 

For now, I'm left with the distinct impression that our front man isn’t quite ready for his spotlight. I’m not nostalgic for the Vigilantes; I've felt for a while that Mallonee was strong enough to go it on his own. And if he wants to paint with these colors for a while, it’ll never be less than interesting. But I think Audible Sigh remains the most urgent and immediate Mallonee material of recent years, even if those songs are ancient history for the singer himself.

Jeffrey Overstreet 8/29/2003