secondfiddle

Malcontent's Second Fiddle, a new CD follow-up to his Malarkey album, has Mal's original songs nestled among folk classics written by his heroes including Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Bob Marley, Steve Earl and Neil Young. Sarah Davey adds lovely vocals and piano to most of the tracks on the album.

Our pal Malcontent has finally come through with a new album, a full hour of guitar, piano, mandolin and harmonica music balancing his country-rock originals with classic folk songs from the masters. Featuring sweet vocal duets and sophisticated piano work from Sarah Davey, the album has lots of strong covers, some of Mal's favourites obviouly, as well as songs of his own, notably the title song, "Second Fiddle", a country-blues lost-ove lament with a rockabilly mandolin beat and emotive guitar work. "Ain't Got The Dough" is a self-explanatory song title, while "Green Tepee" is completely obscure in apparent meaning, but there ya go. Several songs feature conga beats from Conrad Perera and a bit of melodica from Nick Pace. Recorded by Mal and mastered by Bob Frisbee, the result is technically superior to his previous work and Sarah's contribution brings a broader dimension to Mal's music, a new twist to some great songs and Mal's too. Colourful art from Mal and layout from Andrew Maitai make it a nice kiwi country package, a great gift idea.