Jesse Malin – The Fine Art of Self-Destruction: twenty years later, New York, still…

We enjoy the reissue of his first album, The Fine Art of Self-Destruction, to talk about Jesse Malin, an emblematic New York composer, too little known on this side of the Atlantic. And we can even discover him on stage during his new tour…

Jesse Malin – Photo : Ilaria Conte

2023: we celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Fine Art of Self-Destructionthe debut album by Jesse Malin. “What album? From whom? “, will you ask, we are ready to bet it! But don’t worry, 20 years isn’t much on the scale of Rock history, no… And it’s always better to discover an artist late when he’s still alive than to wait for him to appears in the obituary section – now well supplied, unfortunately!

The Fine Art of Self Destruction Alright, let’s explain: Malinhe’s obviously a New Yorker (which you can tell from the first notes of the first song on the album, Queen of the Underworld), he is a kind of skinny, muscleless bodybuilder disciple of Springsteen : he also made a cover of Hungry Heart of the Boss, and the latter came to lend a hand for the song Broken Radio in 2007. But, Malinit is also this guy who started his musical career in Heart Attacka hardcore punk band, which guarantees them a real ease when it comes to pushing their voice on guitars that go fast and make noise (on Wendy, For example). Before working solo, he was also the frontman of a glam punk band celebrated in the US but too well known here, D Generation (“D Gen”, for the intimate). In short, after these turbulent beginnings, well into his thirties, Jesse decided to move on to more serious things – but not too serious, don’t worry – by writing and singing stuff that tells about his New York life. It is obvious that after a few years in punk rock, Jesse had things to say anyway about the “beautiful art of self-destruction”, which makes this album untouchable in terms of “street credibility”, an old rock’n’roll concept that everyone laughs at today, but which, at the turn of the 20th century, still meant something…

Take, at random (well, not really at random…), the song Brooklyn : hard not to fully feel the emotion, or even better because it’s rarer, the CONVICTION that emerges from Jesse’s voice… Hard not to share this tragic vision of human destiny, hard even not to want to recommend this record to all the people you love… And then he goes on to the eponymous song, The Fine Art of Self-Destructionwhich some people go so far as to call it a mini-masterpiece, and which is likely to enter quickly (no need for a lot of listenings for that…) in your personal list of “minor” songs, but important to you.

Personally, we tend to prefer Riding on the Subwaywith its atmosphere so urban, so symbolically New York that we grasp how Malin contributes, and will continue to contribute, to perpetuating the dark and romantic imagination of the Big Apple: the way in which Latin rhythms and electric guitar mingle to raise a luminous melody above the gutters, sorry, of the subway lines, is all simply magnificent.

The album does not escape the soft belly syndrome, with some more dispensable titles in its second part. We can also frown on his unnecessarily forced vocals on the featherless ballad of Solitaire : nothing dramatic, but it prevents us from sticking the easy label of the “unsung masterpiece”. But that does not prevent us, on the other hand, from savoring the lyrical elegance of Malin, skilful creator of images, not necessarily always clear, but so striking. Her ” You say you want a revolution / Something you can touch / Like an age old contradiction / With alcohol and lust (You say you want a revolution / Something you can touch / Like a contradiction of age / With booze and lust) on Queen of the Underworld constitutes an impeccable opening for an album so imbued with nostalgia, melancholy, remorse and regret. And then, on The Fine Art of Self Destructionhow not to love a guy who sings: I’m an old whore / In a thrift store / Looking for something black / Like a bad dream when you come clean / Hoping that you’ll come back (I’m an old whore / In a thrift store / Looking for something black / Like a bad dream when you confess / Hoping you can come back…)?

And then, all the same, what a superb love story – love of a woman, love of a city, love of life, however harsh it may be – that this Brooklyn : « You started out with nothing but lonely days / You used to like the sad songs of doom and gloom / You started with nothing but throwaways / You couldn’t live with me so you moved to / Brooklyn (You started out with nothing but lonely days / You loved songs that were about woe and sadness / You started out with nothing but trash / You couldn’t live with me so you moved out to / Brooklyn)! Malin further explained that ” Brooklyn talks about beginnings, those early days of innocence and big dreams that are often met with irreversible mistakes and regrets. We try to find ways to accept our mistakes and look back knowing how to laugh, forgive, and above all love…”.

The Fine Art of Self-Destruction comes out today with a bonus disc containing different versions of the songs. Interesting for collectors, certainly, but, for us, the original album holds up well enough 20 years later not to need any additional Marketing argument. The real good news is that Malin will be on tour to perform the entire record: at 56, we can bet that his love for New York and his taste for the stories of “beautiful losers” have not changed.