Love In Blum
Mal Blum's "The Villain" wrestles with gender, sex, and love, not necessarily in that order; Junestar Mr. Blackman faces love, loss, and heartbreak
MAL BLUM - The Villain (Get Better Records)
On their first album since beginning testosterone treatments, Mal Blum sings with a deeper - let’s just say it, more “male” - voice than we’ve heard before. But honestly, you could follow the lyrics word for word on every track on Blum’s sixth full-length and not think about gender. It’s only when you read between the lines that songs like “Cool Guy” or “Killer” or the title track take on meaning in that context.
In interviews, Blum has been clear that The Villain is very much a meditation on maleness and being trans-male in society, and how that affects her relationships and sense of identity. Yet on a superficial level, “Cool Guy” could just be about swagger and false bravado - “like, people wanna be me, everybody needs me, you could spend your whole life trying to be a cool guy,” Blum sings. The message hits home on the last chorus when the lyrics subtly change to “you could waste your whole life trying to be a cool guy.” Go a little deeper, and it’s not hard to imagine what it might feel like being the only trans person in the room, everyone looking at you, wanting to be your friend to show how “cool” they are.
Same with “The Killer,” whose narrator brags about killing ants and flies without remorse or pity, then having those around you think you’re a killer. “Bad, is it bad ? Is it bad like they said it was?” Blum asks. Innocuous on the surface, a treatise on transphobia underneath.
The title track also invites interpretation, as Blum ponders who might be the villain in a failed relationship: “Driving alone past your house, you know, I used to be someone else/ Now I’m so tired, uninspired by everything I’ve done.” I used to be someone else, indeed.
Whatever The Villain’s messages (and how you choose to interpret them,) the album’s a fun listen, jangly 90’s alt-pop that sounds like Nirvana’s less abrasive cousins; Better Than Ezra or the Gin Bloosoms, maybe. Despite the depth of feeling that underlies the lyrics, Blum sings with a light touch and a ready sense of humor.
Sonically, it’s a feel good record, and I’m fine with that: A jangly guitar that never gets too loud, Audrey Zee Whitesides’ bouncy bass, and Ricardo Lagomasino’s restrained drumming create a cleaner and arguably more “professional” sound than Blum’s early lo-fi bedroom-pop lo-fi. In fact, I’ve seen fans and reviewers complain that it’s too clean, too “major label.”
I say: listen closer, enjoy the music for what it is, and - like all art - bring your own experience and perceptions to what Mal Blum is saying. For me, the message here is simple: Try to remember that most of us are just trying to live our lives as best we can, and that doesn’t make anyone the villain.
JUNESTAR MR. BLACKMAN/LOMEO-STEINBERG - Self-titled (Bandcamp)
Jersey City’s Junestar Mr. Blackman has a band for every occasion - solo, a duo with Randy Haze, the combo June & The Pushas, and the ensemble Garden State Warriors - but he also collaborates with the songwriting and multi-instrumentalist team of Adam Lomeo and David Steinberg. This is their latest effort, a self-titled 5-song EP released on the 4th of July. It comes on the heels of June & The Pushas’ “Before & After” EP, released just a week before, and includes the previously released singles, “4th of July” and “Eighteen.”
The EP begins with the melancholy “Never Fear,” a song where Junestar’s deep, soulful voice aches with regret and disenchantment, as a gentle guitar picks out the melody over a bed of atmospheric synths. “Eighteen” picks up the tempo, as Junestar gently reminisces over acoustic guitars, Adam Lomeo’s plinking tenor banjo, with David Steinberg’s clarinet and Danny Lubin-Labin’s trompone adding some lovely jazz backnotes.
Acoustic guitar also features prominently on “Fourth of July,” the standout track for me, another sad song that tells a story. “Start the car, hang up the phone / forget the songs they sing at home / when love is all you’ve got / that’s when you find out what you’re not / brothers moving out of state / I had my chances to play it straight / one winner, many ways to lose / change on chord and it’s not the blues.” This could be an outtake from Springsteen’s Nebraska; it taps into the same sense of America as a failed promise.
”Headwaters” begins with gorgeous gospel harmonies, then segues into another acoustic ballad, this one channeling Woody Guthrie, with nimble guitar solos adding brightness to the song’s sturdy Americana vibe. The 5-minute+ “Comfort” ends the EP with another slow, sonorous tale of memory, loss, and searching for love.
For a man who’s been doing this for decades, Junestar Mr. Blackman keeps finding ways to reinvent himself, whether through collaboration or exploring new genres.
The album is available at Bandcamp and is streaming on major platforms.
Incisive analysis of another album I'll likely never hear! You do write the best reviews of music I don't like. Here, I especially appreciate the ppunning title.