Music Review: "You Lust or You Rust" by The Collingwood

The Collingwood is an avant-garde rock band featuring James Pennington (guitar and background vocals) Jimmie Davis (bass guitar) John Paul Travis (drums) and fronted by musician and filmmaker Chris Malinowski. After studying film and graduating from Ithaca College in 1997, Malinowski moved back to his home state of Delaware and formed The Collingwood. Inspired by his creative and cinematic environment, he uses his passion for film to write abstract and engaging music and direct music videos for his band. The music video that he wrote and directed for the bands single “Jouissance” went on to win the Montreal Independent Film Festival’s Best Music Video. Three years later the band releases their latest album, You Lust Or You Rust, which features “Jouissance” and previously unreleased songs.

(The Collingwood: photo submitted by Chris Malinowski )

The tone of You Lust or You Rust inspires a mood of gothic darkness featuring occult-like subjects, ghostly melodies, and arcane-like lyrics. Rock guitar appears first and foremost in the album, creating haunting phrases. Malinwoski’s lyrics are poetic and symbolic, encouraging listeners to really listen, like in songs “We Don’t Do Secrets” and “All Velvet”. The band is able to create music that is intricate and fun while still keeping you on the edge of your seat like in “Matriarch Shuffle” and “Man, the Light is Beautiful Here”. Rich Degnars of R & D Studios in Pike Creek produced, engineered, mastered, and provided additional instrumentation on the record.

Check out the bands official Vimeo page here to see all their music videos. Catch them at The Kennett Flash on January 31st. For more information and tickets, visit the event page here.