Fingerprints Music

Reviews:

After disbanding D Generation in 1999 and shedding his glam-punk Johnny Thunders persona, JesseMalin unwittingly cultivated a "Ryan Adams wannabe" image. Understandable enough, since Adams produced Malin's 2002 solo debut, The Fine Art Of Self-Destruction; the two also share a keening vocal style and are running buddies in the hardcore combo The Finger.) With Malin's self-produced The Heat, however, critics will likely trot out the "young Bruce Springsteen" tag-potentially an artistic kiss of death (just ask Steve Forbert) but equally understandable. Malin has a Springsteenian knack for huge, melodic anthems extolling romance, hard-won defiance and the resilience of the underdog; small wonder the Boss invited Malin to appear at his annual holiday concerts in Jersey last year and also guested on Malin's Messed Up Here Tonight official live bootleg.

The opening track, "Mona Lisa," is pure Bruce, featuring Greetings From Asbury Park-style sounds-and-smells-of-the-street wordplay ("Steven's selling marijuana/ Uptown to the prima donnas... Jenny went and lost her cherry/ Hangin' at the commissary") and a thrumming, surging arrangement straight outta Born To Run. Indeed, Malin is obviously enamored of that classic neo-Phil Spector production style, erecting his own wall of sound on several of This Heat's songs. He also evokes other key rock icons, including Neil Young in the slow-burn "Silver Manhattan" and Paul Westerberg on power-poppers "Scars Of Love" and "Hotel Columbia." In the end, Malin's sophomore waxing feels so big-hearted and alive you're left holding just a single label: Classic American Songwriter. Peel it and press down firmly; this kid's gonna be wearing it for a long time.

After disbanding D Generation in 1999 and shedding his glam-punk Johnny Thunders persona, Jesse Malin unwittingly cultivated a "Ryan Adams wannabe" image. Understandable enough, since Adams produced Malin's 2002 solo debut, The Fine Art Of Self-Destruction; the two also share a keening vocal style and are running buddies in the hardcore combo The Finger.) With Malin's self-produced The Heat, however, critics will likely trot out the "young Bruce Springsteen" tag-potentially an artistic kiss of death (just ask Steve Forbert) but equally understandable. Malin has a Springsteenian knack for huge, melodic anthems extolling romance, hard-won defiance and the resilience of the underdog; small wonder the Boss invited Malin to appear at his annual holiday concerts in Jersey last year and also guested on Malin's Messed Up Here Tonight official live bootleg.

The opening track, "Mona Lisa," is pure Bruce, featuring Greetings From Asbury Park-style sounds-and-smells-of-the-street wordplay ("Steven's selling marijuana/ Uptown to the prima donnas... Jenny went and lost her cherry/ Hangin' at the commissary") and a thrumming, surging arrangement straight outta Born To Run. Indeed, Malin is obviously enamored of that classic neo-Phil Spector production style, erecting his own wall of sound on several of This Heat's songs. He also evokes other key rock icons, including Neil Young in the slow-burn "Silver Manhattan" and Paul Westerberg on power-poppers "Scars Of Love" and "Hotel Columbia." In the end, Malin's sophomore waxing feels so big-hearted and alive you're left holding just a single label: Classic American Songwriter. Peel it and press down firmly; this kid's gonna be wearing it for a long time.