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I've always wanted to meet a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Not one that becomes sickly sweet in the process, but one who confidently connects you with his background, sincerely letting you understand the person.
Even though I am experiencing Jesse Malin from afar along with a couple of hundred people at tonight's London Union Chapel gig, I honestly feel I am personally meeting That Man. And I must admit that I hadn't even really heard of him before tonight, bar rumblings from a few friends.
Opening with Queen of the Underworld, the first track from his debut album Fine Art of Self Destruction you would be forgiven in thinking he is simply another member of growing alternative country movement. As that album is produced by Ryan Adams it would also be understandable if you dismissed him as nothing more than an Adams protégé.
This would be a big mistake however. He describes his own music as 'just rock music' while others liken him to a young Bruce Springsteen with obvious influences of '70s punk thrown in. Personally, I would portray him as a charismatic, descriptive storyteller, both as a songwriter and of the spoken word. Almost every song is introduced with a story - for two hours the audience are captivated and taken on a journey through the working class streets and family life of Queens and Manhattan, connecting us like a Scorsese movie.
We experience the everyday craziness of the New York underground in Ridin' on the Subway and are made to understand the possibilities of falling in love every time you step outside the door on a typical day in NY in his new song, Silver Manhattan.
Wendy, meanwhile, is the story of the girl with whom he has so much in common in terms of interests such as music and films, but where a huge communication of feelings void is an issue (I empathise with this story a little too much). Almost Grown is the heartbreaking story of his upbringing by his single waitress mum after the divorce of his parents, while High Lonesome seems to be describing his realisation that his former band D-Generation was no longer giving him the musical freedom he desired and his need to go solo.
The stories and the songs paint a picture of the man, true to him and his life. Yet, there is something universal and effective about his stories, evoking my own questioning and self-analysis. Even though the heart of some of these stories is one of sadness, the deliverance is upbeat, alive and full of passion.
The audience erupts into exultation when he provides a touching rendition of Springsteen's Hungry Heart and when he ends the show on Nick Lowe's What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love And Understanding?
Tonight, Jesse cantillates, he whispers, he croons, he intimates, he suggests, he evokes, he lulls, and for all that, we cherish and relate, for "you know that I am singing just for you".
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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
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