devilsplender

  devilsplender – AKA Rob Malowany and whoever he chooses to back himself up at any given time – has been stealthily building a reputation as one of Western Canada's most intriguing musical projects since it began in 2000. Sequestering himself in his home studio and honing songwriting skills, Malowany – as much at home behind a 16 track console as he is a guitar or drum set – kept a low profile in the first few years while picking up from his last band, Curveball Abbey, instead choosing to woodshed. That hard work has paid off: Malowany's output since has been impressive, especially considering that he self finances and, at least in the beginning, self recorded a great deal of devilsplender. Local media hasn't been unaware of this: the Edmonton Journal, Sun, SEE Magazine and VUE have all lined up to give glowing reviews of recent albums, and radio, from the campus radio station to the CBC have paid particular attention.   That might have something to so with the enthusiastic support that Malowany has received from his friends in the music community – friends that cut across all genres, from serious jazz players to alt-rockers and on, all present and accounted for on his three previous albums: - Snakes and Apples, Ring the Bells 'Cause We're Swinging Hammers, Slowly Comes My Voluptuous Death. Drummers Sandro Dominelli (Sandro Dominelli Quintet), Cory Papirny and Shauna Hosegood (Pal Joey, The Maybellines), guitarists Robin Hunter (Imagineers and Ten Foot Bullies) and Eric Newby, keyboardist/producer John Blerot, bass players Rubim de Toledo (Bomba) and Greg Johnston, all have been drawn in by Malowany's dedication to the craft of songwriting and record making.   That being said, while Malowany has always had a predilection for intensive recording over live gigs, when he does drag out his ad hoc band they've held their own against some impressive musical acts: The Northern Pikes, Lowest of the Low, The Marble Index, Black Mountain, Jerk With A Bomb, Ray Condo. In between the studio and the stage, he's also found the time to produce two successful compilations of indie songwriters, A Drive Thru Record, Compilations 1 & 2.   With devilsplender's newest album, Hiding from the Cold, Malowany has taken everything he's learned during the past five years – from his own bursts of songwriting and also working in the studio with musicians on the Drive Thru series - and successfully alchemized it into bursts of short, jagged pop gems. Conceptually it's like a Ramones or Stax/Volt record - nine songs, barely inching over thirty minutes total; sonically it hews to late eighties bands like the Replacements. The production by Stew Kirkwood – a man who knows how to helm a pop record, as evidenced by his work with Welcome and Cone of Silence - is bright and sharp, perfectly complementing Malowany's unerring melodic sense. Hiding from the Cold is clearly an artistic step up for Malowany, a step that should alert music fans and critics to a talent that has been stealthily flowwering in Western Canada . I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4