Bedouin Soundclash: Spreading the Street Gospel

“Deep in the city is a man who sings a song, all night long I hear his voice burning on, to lost faces in the seams of the night, that all unravel in the first morning light…”

From the moment Jay Malinowski answered my phone call for an interview, I felt as though I was talking to someone I had known for years. It was hard to believe that the man who was speaking to me was the same singer/guitarist who had written these and countless other lyrics for one of Canada’s most unique and musically talented groups, Bedouin Soundclash. Malinowski’s responses to my questions were witty and entertaining, yet a tone of sincerity and truth rang throughout his words.

This same sincerity is evident on Street Gospels, the band’s 2007 follow-up to their sophomore album, Sounding a Mosaic. “We were trying to do something kind of spiritual, to try and get back to why we were playing music in the first place,” explains Malinowski. “[We needed to] rediscover what it meant to be Bedouin Soundclash. So much had changed [since Sounding a Mosaic]. We all turned a bit to spirituality, and looked within ourselves a bit more.”

The openness with which Malinowski shares his insight about the band is not unlike the music Bedouin Soundclash has come to consistently create. Their melodies, fresh and innovative, combine with forthright and honest lyrics that hold a deeper meaning for listeners to discover themselves. The result is an incredible blend of musical genres and artistic verse that separates Bedouin’s music from the rest of the music industry, while remaining distinctly Canadian.

One of these distinctly Canadian characteristics is the band’s multicultural dynamic, and Malinowski feels that Bedouin Soundclash could not have even existed in a country other than Canada. Their rhythms are reggae-inspired, but at times it is easy to identify rock, punk and gospel influences in the music. Just like the many facets and cultures of our society that can be defined as Canadian, each song has a different underlying beat and mood, but is still distinctly Bedouin Soundclash.

Although Malinowski has plans to pursue a solo career and jokes he’d like to create “a cult of Jay” down the road, he is still optimistic that the group will remain in the industry for a while. “I hope Bedouin Soundclash is around for as long as we feel inspired to do it.”

Anyone who has listened to Street Gospels knows that Bedouin is still going strong, and the future is open and full of possibility for this group. Their music is a true mosaic of musical genres, cultures and stories that captures the essence of Canada in the simplicity of a melody.