If you have Mark Mallman pegged as a synth-wielding, alt-popper or even as an experimental indie-rocker, and to be fair, those are both particularly accurate descriptions of him, then his latest single, “The Cancer,” is going to make you rethink even that broad job description. But music that makes you do that is always better than music that rewards unmoving expectations.
This time out, Mallman delivers a chamber-pop gem, a song that encapsulates his usual wit and wisdom but wraps it in swathes of strings and washes of classical grace. And lyrically, he is on his game, too. Anyone who could pen the line, “If beauty broke the law of attraction, what would the crime be?” should be easily recognised as possessing a deft, poetic hand indeed.
“The Cancer” is the sort of song that disorientates the listener. Perhaps the title and the artwork wrong-foot you before you go in, again, a bit of bewilderment is no bad thing, but this is a song about the laws that guide us, or more appropriately, the ones that stand in the way of us living better, fuller, richer lives, both bureaucratical and metaphysical, real and imagined.
But then Mallman has always sought to push boundaries, both his own and those of art in general, so this chamber-pop dalliance, which might seem strange in the hands of others, makes perfect sense. This is, after all, the man whose live shows, which can last up to 78 hours, have reached legendary status and who most notably wrote the song “Flowers” for the iconic and subversive Rick &Morty TV show.
“The Cancer” is strange and unexpected, out of step with fad and fashion, and running at tangents to the current musical flow, until you find out who it is by, and then it seems to be the perfect next step for this wonderfully revolutionary and wilfully rebellious creative.
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