Michelle Malone

Debris (SBS)

By Lindsay Trapnell
Published: December 21st, 2008 | 9:00am

Debris is Michelle Malone’s tenth studio album, which itself is a major accomplishment. Years ago, when her major label deal fell through, Malone founded her own label, SBS Records. That driven, DIY attitude is evident throughout Debris — which features Malone on multiple instruments, including harmonica and slide guitar.

Malone, who started her career playing alongside the Indigo Girls, is obviously an accomplished guitarist. Her strong, raspy voice confidently drives the songs on Debris — a solid, if at times mediocre, album in the vein of Bonnie Raitt. While it’s a fitting jukebox choice to drink a beer in say, a Southern dive bar, it doesn’t provoke the listener to sit up and tune in completely. It features some great hooks and the slide guitar provides just enough blues grit and twang, but the songs tend to blend together.

Simplicity is often the key to the best pop lyrics, and numerous classic blues ditties rely on well-worn clichés. However, Malone’s familiar lyrics lack the specificity or originality to stand out, except perhaps for the teenage reminiscent, “Weed and Wine,” with its catchy refrain, “You bring the weed / I’ll bring the wine / Crawl in the backseat, honey / And have a real good time.”

Jimi Hendrix once said, “Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel” — this difficulty in conveying true feeling is Debris' biggest flaw. Malone shows off her enviable musical chops and versatility, but real emotion is either absent or too buried under the layered instrumentation and production sheen to leave a mark.

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Michelle Malone's official site

Michelle Malone's MySpace page

Comments

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redlocker (about 1 year)
malone without real emotion is like chocolate without chocolate. they just can't be separated. i'm looking forward to purchasing this record.

hallietravis (about 1 year)
Just got the CD, have every thing MM has ever produced I could get my hands on and I have to say, I am impressed she continues to have the courage to try new things. Just because she has more instrumentation on this CD, with more rocking music in no way diminishes her talent or the fact this is a great work, like the last few. She is like a great bottle of wine - aging extremely well. I expect 10 more years of exception music from this talented singer/song writer. This effort is at least a 4 star if you are thoroughly familiar with her work.