It is hard to believe that the still fresh-faced Malin has been making music since 1980, when he became the 12-year-old frontman for New York punks Heart Attack. He is now well in the throes of a solo career and fulfilling that precocious talent. His second album, 2004’s The Heat, was a near-masterpiece of Replacements-esque rock, mixed with the fragility of an East Coast Jackson Browne. This follow-up doesn’t quite hit the same heights, though it’s not without its merits.
Utilising a bulging contacts book, Malin enlists the likes of Jakob Dylan, Josh Homme and long-time collaborator and pal Ryan Adams. Aptly, he also duets with Bruce Springsteen on the pleasant, if not outstanding, Broken Radio. Elsewhere, there is anti-war politicking on Prisoners Of Paradise, while In The Modern World is a curious mimic of The Libertines’ Can’t Stand Me Now, complete with another bizarre Doherty reference, the line ‘Come on and fuck forever’.
Malin’s growing knack for melody is one that would please Adams, and it’s found here in New York Nights, an homage to the city that is both artists’ muse. One of his best compositions, this relatively gentle ballad completes Malins’ move from exuberant street punk to meditative troubadour.
