Jay Malinowski & The Deadcoast - Martel (2014)

In examining his roots, Jay Malinowski searched for a story. The lead singer of the Bedouin Soundclash found one, far down in his family tree with an ancestor called Charles Martel. It’s this personal history and Malinowski’s journey to discover his roots that led him to Martel, his first release as a solo artist as Jay Malinowski & the Deadcoast. The record is a concept project that extends through time and space to more than music.

Martel was a Huguenot from France who moved to the New World to escape religious prosecution, and it’s his life story that informs Malinowski’s creative work. With this project, the singer branches out from music into other mediums as bridges his past with his own adventures and identity — besides the album, there are videos, an interactive website, and soon, a novella. Malinowski delivers a stellar multi-faceted performance piece that will captivate listeners, readers and viewers alike, and provide fans with a detailed look into the singer’s private life and history.

The album features piano-driven melodies and a jazz-inspired sound that drifts through musical ages and styles, such as ragtime and pop. The 18 tracks are distinguished into two parts: Pacific and Atlantic, with a noticeable change in tone as we cross oceans from melancholy piano ballads and quiet strings to a more rhythmic sound with an intense string presence. The songs clash together in a musical carnival that’s alarming, but pleasing to the ear.

Focusing on the grittier side of history, Malinowski sets the stories of his and Martel’s individual journeys to song as he sings about how they lost love, fortune and time. In “Patience Phipps (The Best of You),” he begs a woman to be with him through the good times and the bad, singing, “Patience, marry me?/Someday, somewhere, we could be happy / I know the past ain’t clean / But time as my witness, one day I’ll be.”

The album concludes as Malinowski reminisces on things he’s learned from his journey: in the final song, “Low, Low, Low,” he croons about traveling strangers, mislaid plans and moving on. It’s the end of a journey that, thankfully, we’re able to repeat and experience again.