MCLX presents live in concert:
<Michael Malarkey>
What comes first? The actor or the songwriter? For Michael Malarkey, the writer came first, then the self-taught musician, rapidly followed by the self-made actor. Michael’s journey as a musician started when he began placing guitar parts behind his passion of writing copious amounts of poetry. Embracing the use of words to build tempo, Malarkey’s debut album Mongrels is the scribbling’s of a restless creative, battling to contain his nomadic spirit within his compositions.
Malarkey was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Irish-American father and a British mother of Arab/Italian origin and is most famous in the acting circles for his role as the notorious Enzo in the hit CW series The Vampire Diaries.
Described recently as folk-tronica’ (Metro), Malarkey’s musical imprint is inspired by a host of different artists and his debut record Mongrels is a demonstration of an eclectic musical taste.
Mongrels doesn’t beat around the bush. The songs don’t jump and down, they don’t wear fancy clothes but lyrically the record plunges you into the depths of a passionate poet with an ear for melody. Malarkey’s writes a mixture of introspective country/folk music or driven, ravenous blues songs with lyrics filled with a haunting beauty, yet displaying a warm soul. Each song is a new journey into another corridor of his mind, charged with the depth of a man who sees the world in imagery and emotion.
“Mongrels is an album of the changing of the seasons, both literal and figurative. It is a journey through the dark woods of Malarkey’s mind, hashing out the trials and tribulations of relationships, wrestling with the opposing forces within, yet always seeking to find meaning in the impermanence of the journey.”