AMBER WAVES by Bill Mallonee

It ended up being the last album Vigilantes of Love would make with an older line-up of musicians familiar to fans. I was hoping it was a portent of things to come....In a way it was.....but i digress:

Amber Notes:
Amber Waves was album #50 for me, released back in 2012. The songs kept coming. The words and experiences deepen and the next thing I knew there's a record dying to be recorded. The trick is always to not over-think it. Over-thinking anything is the recipe for musical grandiosity.
Steer clear.

Still, we're all living in a similar skin. Our themes and stories through generations, whether rich or poor, are not dissimilar. Those are the veins I try to tap as a writer when my game is on.

#50. That's a lot of writing, recording and touring. I have worked hard at it. I have plied my trade, so to speak. The "vocation" has opened up worlds, both within and without. I've lived on the road the better part of 22 years. That proximity to the lives of folks all over the US and abroad is why I love the American people, aspects of the "American Experience," and Americana music.

When it comes to this country's musical heritage, I have realized for years now as a writer that one stands on the shoulder's of giants. It is a grand view.

Some of the early albums were released on major/minor labels. But most of them (post-label and label resources) have been simple, independent labors of love; released under-the-radar to a cult of fans who never seem to give up on me. It is humbling. I call that "Grace." With a shot of oblivion. Shaken, not stirred.

There are strong thematics of grief and hope on this one. Death and loss have been somethings to attend to for many years in my life: the passing of parents, the loss of friends. "All the good ones leave the party way too soon," I sing on "Into God Knows What." This record is about the last word Love gets in the face of deaths (little and large) and grieving.

Other themes:
This record is sometimes about the "failed experiment" of democracy. It is about a joy manifesting in our spirits from time to time, often for no explicable reason; a joy born of something closely resembling a child's naivete. And that "thing" that is born is vital, enduring. It'll flies in the face of reality's harshness and cruelty.

It is about idols that lay claim to our hearts. We were made for better things. It is about a widening chasm between the surfeited, well-to-do who often turn a deaf ear to those who are downtrodden and "kept out of the game." It is about the confusion in our hearts and the weariness in out spirits.

It is about courageously living with incongruities of faith and life where once "definitives" and certitudes once held the day. It is about leaning on each other's shoulders, bearing each other's burdens as a way to incarnate a shaky faith.

And finally: It is about "betting the farm" on a Love that is beyond imagining, even beyond our wildest hopes. These days Hope and Imagination drift upon a tempest-sea where the battle to become truly human is played out. And on many (most?) days our courage to hope and imagine are often felt to be drowning.

I close:
Maybe all good art starts and ends in the woundedness of our own spirits. I've written for 20 years, album after album, just to heal myself. Nothing more than that.
If Amber Waves has a message, it is that our pasts (national and personal) are full of grieving, full of mistakes. We have not seen nor valued each other rightly. Our national conscience is stricken with a certain wounded-ness. And although our personal and national pasts have been shameful, it is quite often that those very same lives are marked by acts remarkably tender and heroic. Our histories are full of examples of faith and courage and compassion. We "work it out," as they say. Love (again) has the last say. It's all here on Amber Waves

We live in an era full of "static." Love, if not lost all together, is often hard to find, hard to keep, hard to sense and experience. Amber Waves is part of my journey to sense and affirm that Love is alive and well. It's an anthem of garage-y, noisy, lush, reflective, jangly, transparent, grieving songs...all straining at affirming the struggle.
Thanks for letting me tell you what it looks like.

But mostly? It's just passionate, heartland rock & roll.

Remember: Don't "over-think it," kids.

Peace,
Bill Mallonee
November 2012

Bill Mallonee is an Americana artist w/ 85 plus albums over a 30 year career.

Voted by Paste Music Magazine #65 in their "Top 100 Living Songwriters" poll. He was the
founding member of Athens, Ga. Vigilantes of Love. He has worked with Jim Scott, Mark Heard, Buddy Miller, & Emmylou Harris.
2024 recordings include the double volume Glimmer I & ll. Hard copy LPs & Cd are at: www.BillMallonee.com

billmalloneemusic.com