Bill Mallonee

Item: Perfumed Letter
Author: Matt Kilgore

Perfumed Letter

(2003)

Reviewed by Matt Kilgore

Discogs Bandcamp

Label Paste RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2003

americana britpop pop rock

The new Bill Mallonee solo offering Perfumed Letter opens with the re-use of "She's So Liquid" from the album "Fetal Position". Also used again on the album is "Wintergreen" With great lines like "Tears were words and then again, fallen down like English rain" and "dead of night and the city's bright, caught blinking at the traffic light. The tapes are so hard to erase"(from those songs respectively) I'm not complaining. In many ways they fit in remarkably better here. As does the theme of lost love from "Locket Full of Moonlight" which shows up in the project as well. It seems this is because this is the album Bill has been trying to make for two years, and the album his fans have been waiting for. I declare and anticipate the chorus to follow, "Perfumed Letter" is an amazing album which stands up to Bill's best work throughout his career. The songs open up the way its title's imagery would suggest, leaving its reader engrossed and hanging on every word.

The title track is Bill's take two at the lamentation of love, where this time he succeeds. Here the depressing feel of his last album drops a couple notches in favor of something better described as heartbreaking, but much more accessible. The song laments "The moon is on the waters, the hands move on your face of a clock that has no memory of our farewell embrace". "Life on other planets" tells about looking back on a childhood hope and innocence, remembering a time "when you believed in God and new romantics and life out there on other planets". The beautiful music setting fits perfectly to the lyrics and is both well thought out and pleasantly catchy.

"Extraordinary Girl" starts off with a great riff, and is perhaps one of the most hopeful sounding things ever in a Bill Mallonee song. The background vocals are remarkable, and the song is beautifully toe tapping and poppy. The song showcases the beautiful thing about what Bill has done. The fact that once his music shined so brightly in a perfect setting of Americana roots-rock, and now he has just as masterfully conquered a more brit-pop soundscape. "Two Become One", possibly the highlight of the album, starts off with a pulsating organ beat. It's filled with great pop sensibilities you would expect from an early Blur album (I hear particular similarities to the sound of the "Modern Life is Rubbish" album.), yet the influences here show off what has to be a myriad of sources (but which have to be British... yes yes, very British). This results in production that rivals the beauty and creativity of the Vigilantes of Love work "Summershine." The effect is captivating in a way Bill Mallonee has never been before.

"Transparence" is greatly heartbreaking. It tells about "Silver transparence, morphine drapes beside your bed, it's the only way to take off the edge". Here is the classic postmodern Bill, sharing the stories of complex characters in his music. "That Little Something" somehow teems with joy and optimism despite its lyrics diatribe of impossible love which won't work out. Bill asks "Wonder why it feels like a coin toss, all the bridges that we build won't hold when we cross" and the drums and guitars then release into a furious fill before coming back down to a tender conclusion. It's amazing production and quite an amazing thing to hear. The song then features some terrific background vocals and a nice ending guitar solo.

In "After All You've Done for Me" the vocals are passionate and collide nicely with a unique faux horn and strings which send the song soaring with a remarkably original sound. On the closing "Shirts & Skins", Bill manages to pull another rabbit from his hat. This one sounds like nothing he's done before. The wall of noise swells and builds around the piano in a very captivating fashion. Lyrically the song abandons most of the album's focus on relationships and ends the album with a focus on just letting go of everything we have. This track concludes the main work of the album, but a bonus track "Your Bright Future" is featured which doesn't really fit the material well, but is a great song off the Vigilantes of Love EP Electromeo so therefore a nice addition.

The production of Perfumed Letter is so amazing and provides for something beautiful to listen to (I'm especially a fan of the percussion!), but the driving force which is always there in Bill's work is the lyrics. This is what truly makes the project something special. These songs turn heartache into a beautiful celebration. The quality is consistently good throughout the entire ambitious album and is Bill Mallonee at the top of his game. Although it seemed at first the solo career material couldn't rival that from the Vigilantes of Love years, Perfumed Letter proves that the third time is a charm. Bill's future work for years to come will constantly be compared to the material here. Superb. Simply a perfect album.

5 tocks