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Diesel has personified a life’s devotion to music in an outstanding four-decade, million-record-selling career. His fans have cheered him on along a remarkable road of vital and varied endeavours, whether he’s excelling as a blues man or soul stylist, as a pop devotee or rock powerhouse, or with all elements in unison as the dynamic and acclaimed live performer Diesel’s audiences know him to be. Music lovers hail him as a guitarist’s guitarist, while the industry seeks him out as an in-demand guest instrumentalist, songwriter, engineer, and producer. All of the myriad talents of his musical abilities coalesce on Bootleg Melancholy, an unabashedly exuberant 14-track LP that is at once the most diverse and most cohesive album Diesel has recorded to date. Loaded with hooks, these songs greet you with the warmth and familiarity of a good friend, songs about family, mortality, childhood, and dreams. Travelling across time, place, and memory, this is rousing yet reflective adult pop music that celebrates the joys of everyday life while braving the difficult stuff – the challenges we all eventually face – with insights and tenderness. “The world can be hard and that takes us over in our heads but love and joy are always right there in front of us if we remember to look for them too.” says Mark. “If I’m going to write about my anxieties and fears, I’ll mix it with other parts of me – humour, memories, just small moments – because it’s more welcoming to hear but also a truer picture of who I am. When I get scared, I’m laughing at myself for being scared, you know?” Recorded in his home studio, Diesel played most of the instruments on the album himself, a practical outcome as much of it was made during the more isolated months of recent years. But the arrangements remain ambitious and the mix sparkles with intriguing sounds and inspired self-accompaniment on instruments like cello, double bass, vintage synths and drum machines, mandolin, and the string-like electronic Omnichord. “I took some chances with the marriage of different sounds,” Mark says, “some things that don’t work separately balance in combination. Sometimes it’s the music that lightens up the lyrics, or vice versa, or the blend can be lyrical in itself.” Ably abetted by long-standing sideman Lee Moloney on drums and percussion, long-time fans will also be delighted to hear Bernie Bremond’s unmistakable saxophone on two songs here – ‘Never Giving Up’ and the LP title track – reuniting the two Johnny Diesel and the Injectors’ bandmates. “Bernie’s so great,” says Mark, “you can brief him on what you’re hoping for but then he always does something that’s unexpected, and it’s always the gold.” Featuring the single ‘Forever’ the listener is going to take from Bootleg Melancholy what they best need, whether the pop rush of an infectious chorus, the reassurances of a heartening lyric sung with Diesel’s trademark soulfulness, or the satisfying interjection of some exhilarating solos on vintage guitars. “I know when it feels potent and if it feels potent to me, my hope is that it would feel like that to someone else because that's all I'm really trying for.”