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Oct 17, 2023 Web Exclusive By Mark Moody

American writer James Weldon Johnson put it best when describing humanity’s subjection to whatever may come its way. “My arm’s too short to box with God,” he shared in trying to convey the futility of fending off what fate delivers. Tennessee by way of the Texas panhandle songwriter, Mali Velasquez, knows this all too well given the punches she has taken at a young age. And, like Johnson, she describes these things as eloquently and bluntly on her debut album, I’m Green.

Much of the album is informed by the loss of Velasquez’s mother and struggling to find her footing in the aftermath. And sometimes in the absence of understanding, all that can be done is to describe her helplessness. “No one seems to wonder how I carry on,” Velasquez ponders on the wavery acoustic folk of “Clovers.” But I’m Green is far from a maudlin sounding affair. The song blossoms with drums kicking in midway through and Velasquez’s voice going from abject uncertainty to a full-throated confidence at the end.

Velasquez’s vocals are raw and unsteady. A shade more conventional than Tenci’s Jess Shoman, but equally honest in the delivery. While the instrumentation goes well beyond expectations for a debut album. The denseness of the backdrop of “Turn Red” is interlaced with what sounds like a banjo deep down in the mix and the delicate traipse of “Horse Trough” underlay seemingly simple arrangements à la the equally emotive Skullcrusher.

A skilled oil painter as well, Velasquez’s talents serve as an outlet for her grief and efforts to connect. The most pop forward song here, “Tore,” is an album highlight, but as stark as anything else on offer: “Tore up your dress on the cement, made you blush with embarrassment, which made me feel irreplaceable.” An almost gleeful chorus that contends with layers of complexity. While the longest and sparest song here, the gorgeous six-minute closer “Death Grip,” finds Velasquez adorning the song with her most delicate vocal delivery while wrestling with the unexplainable arc of a relationship.

Though it may seem contrary to view an artist’s pursuit of a dark hued muse as an auspicious beginning, Velasquez has a maturity to know that answers to the unanswerable aren’t gleaned from the ground. Working alongside producer/musician Josef Kuhn (Samia, Hannah Cole), Velasquez’s debut is more fully formed than most. Particularly in its letter perfect conveyance of not knowing which end is up and wondering if you’ll ever find your bearings. (www.malivelasquez.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10