Mark Mallman

When singer-songwriters go for understatement in the pursuit of intimacy, it’s often at the cost of flair. That’s not Mark Mallman’s style. The Minneapolis musician’s love of glam flamboyance announced itself with his late-’90s band, the Odd, and has persevered through his solo career the past dozen years. His brassy vocals are abetted by the canny, supple lyricism of his music, as on the soul-soaked come-on of “Hardcore Romantics” and the ominous, static-addled gloom of “God Gone Mad.” (Mallman also composed music for the Wall-E and Adventureland trailers.) His latest release, Invincible Criminal, scales back theatricality in favor of a more measured vocal delivery, but the songs remain cinematic in scope. Search online for last year’s free greatest-hits download.