Jay Malinowski Bright Lights & Bruises Just Like a Bob Dylan Soundtrack

When I was a little girl, my father played me hundreds of records by artists that I would only come to intimately know and understand as an adult. From BB King Live at Cook Country Jail to Sonny and Brownie At Sugar Hill, oodles of Jerry Lee Lewis (Killer Country era not the early shit) and enough Bob Dylan that I can safely say, by the tender age of 14, I had already seen and heard enough Bob Dylan for a lifetime. And that’s no exaggeration. I’ve seen him 5 times in concert (all before I was 14) and between the vinyl, tapes, DVDs and CDs, I think I have enough Bobby Zimmerman paraphenelia to be called a fanatic.

In 1973 Dylan put out the soundtrack to the movie, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Very few people I know have this album and other than the fact that Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door was released from it, there is nothing special in terms of the sheer girth of the entire Dylan catalog.

However, it’s one of my favorites. Dylan is known for barely working on albums when it comes time to record them in the studio. It’s no secret that he’d go into the studio, play each song once and what was recorded was what they put out. Other than Blood On the Tracks, there is no other album that I know of where he actually put some studio time in tinkering with the songs till they sounded just right. Other than Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, none of his other albums sound whole in this way. Every song on this album belongs together, partly because the songs Billy 1, Billy 4, and Billy 7 are all the same lyrics in different variations made to sound like different songs, and partly because they are all part of a greater plot, a neatly sewn up story in the form of a movie.

It’s a good Sunday afternoon album. It’s the kind of album you put on while you make yourself a lazy brunch and read the paper on cold mornings with the windows frosted up on sunny days before you tackle the laundry.

Bright Lights & Bruises, the first solo effort from Bedouin Soundclash’s Jay Malinowski is beautiful and complete in all the same ways. The album, set to hit shelves Feb 16, 2010 as the first release on Pirates Blend (distributed by Sony Canada), has all the elements I love from that Dylan album. Although There Is A Light is the first single (comes out Jan 11th, 2010), I didn’t hear any discernable singles on it. Each song leads into the next like one forty-odd minute story with ebb and flow that works better with afternoon tea than it does as a few singles stung together with a lot of b-side filler, and that’s what’s refreshing about it. There is also a vulnerability in what is NOT there, a stripped down album that relies on simple drums, guitar riffs and a lot of Malinowski’s sweet but rough voice, the something that is missing in the nothing in between is what keeps me hitting play when the tape runs out.

Jay is in Iceland currently, shooting a video for There Is A Light with good friend, Michael Maxxis. Bedouin Soundclash’s next full-length is scheduled for summer 2010 and their next gig is at Mod Club March 12th for Canadian Music Week. Also, Jay will be running with the Olympic torchin his hometown of Vancouver February 12th, 2010. Looks like 2010 is gonna be a BIG year.

To Listen to There Is A Light, Click HERE.