To the Roof of the Sky

Description

To the Roof of the Sky is the seventh full-length studio album by the American folk-rock/alt-country combo Vigilantes of Love fronted by singer-songwriter Bill Mallonee, independently released on the band’s own label Meat Market Records in May 1998. The album was produced by Bill Mallonee.

Bill Mallonee is the kind of heart-on-sleeve singer/songwriter that transcends today’s trend-conscious music marketing efforts. A folk/rocker with roots that run parallel to the great poetic pop music voices of our day (Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn, Mark Heard), Mallonee and his Vigilantes of Love have been making important faith-based music since 1992’s Heard-produced masterpiece, Killing Floor.

Now, without a label deal again, VoL returns on an intimate, indie effort that recalls the band’s greatest strengths without the turmoil of energy wasted on wondering how to sell more records.

To the Roof of the Sky, as is Mallonee’s way, chronicles the personal struggles of life, faith, art, relationship, justice and mercy in a culture in love with death and dying. Prophetic, yet personal, universally applicable yet animated by honest narrative, VoL deals with real experiences in ways that Christian music generally has a tendency to gloss over. Which means that, theologically speaking, songs like «To the Roof of the Sky», «Avalanche», «This Time Isn’t One of Them» and «Farther Up the Road» offer a more holistically biblical perspective than you’ll find elsewhere. Like the psalmists, scribes and narrators of holy writ, Mallonee knows that a God who chooses to become incarnate is One who can handle all the ups and downs of human life.

Musically, Roof is rich, rocking with aplomb when appropriate but not afraid to step back and let the stirring story and strong melodies rest on simple neo-folk/country music. In that regard, VoL deserves a place in the “insurgent country” mainstream, alongside acts like Son Volt and Bottle Rockets. Music this intelligent, literate and emotionally honest warrants a broader audience, but in a dog-eat-trend world I’m afraid Vigilantes of Love is likely to remain one of music’s best-kept secrets. [Brian Q. Newcomber, CCM, September 1998]

CD tracklist:

01. But Not For Long – 3:01
02. Run Through My Veins – 3:49
03. To The Roof Of The Sky – 4:28
04. Paralyzed – 4:30
05. Avalanche – 5:37
06. Doin’ Time – 3:44
07. Perishable Goods – 3:38
08. This Time Isn’t One Of Them – 4:10
09. Filigree – 4:02
10. Isadora Duncan – 4:37
11. Proving Ground – 4:40
12. Opposite’s True – 4:20
13. On The Verge – 4:40
14. (Please) Leave Me The Bones – 4:43
15. Farther Up The Road – 5:44

Note: Available at Bandcamp: http://billmalloneemusic.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-roof-of-the-sky

CREDITS. Produced by Bill Mallonee. All songs written by Bill Mallonee.

Musicians: Bill Mallonee (guitars, vocals, harmonica), Ken Hutson (guitars, mandolin, pedal steel, bgvs), Mark Cooper-Smith (piano), Chris Bland (bass, bgvs), Scott Klopfenstein (drums).