The Shoe Issue #37

Jena Malone may or may not want you to hear her music

By Laura Leebove
Published: September 1st, 2008 | 9:08am

If you want to see Jena Malone perform with her band the Shoe, it might not be easy. And even if you do try to find the actress-musician — who has starred in such movies as Saved!, Donnie Darko, and The Go-Getter — that doesn’t mean you’ll succeed.

In late June, I trekked through New York’s Central Park in search of “the gazebo at the southern end of Central Park, close to the pond,” as per a post on the band’s Web site, therewasanoldwomanrecords.com. The rest of the message — “Hopefully the wind will carry if you get lost!” — was mildly reassuring as I walked from one end of the park to the other while the early-evening sun beat down on my back, drenching my workday clothes with sweat.

Eventually I found the pond, but after walking all the way around it I still saw no gazebo. After about an hour-and-a-half I gave up and went home disappointed and hungry, with plans to see her the next day at a bar in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Too bad an extreme downpour ruined that idea.

But perhaps the 23-year-old Malone’s music isn’t meant to be heard live by those who seek it out. Perhaps people are instead supposed to simply stumble upon it and stop to listen — at least that’s what her venue choices suggest. After all, the Shoe’s journey through Los Angeles in late May was dubbed the “Treasure Map Tour” and included a stop at the “Chapel of Love,” which was actually a friend’s front yard.

The shows consist of Malone and Lem Jay Ignacio, with Malone singing and playing her hand-built instrument of samplers and pedals (also called “the shoe”), and Ignacio on keys, together performing off-kilter tunes about houses on hills and raccoons. Malone’s free-spirited vocals are at times melodic and quirky, and at other times she opts for a chant through a distorted microphone.

So far the duo has released a six-song EP, At Lem Jay’s Garage, on Malone’s own There Was An Old Woman Records. The DIY label also is home to Malone’s other musical outlet, Jena Malone and Her Bloodstains, a project that has, in fact, played at more traditional shows, including NYC venues Mercury Lounge and Joe’s Pub, and Brooklyn’s Union Hall.

It’s hard to guess what’s next for Malone and her Shoe, but I think it’s safe to say that if you accidentally encounter one of her performances — be it in a bar or in a park by a pond — you should consider yourself lucky.

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