Since he's always been Jay Malinowski, it wasn't hard to go from holding the title of Bedouin Soundclash's lead singer to being a self-titled musician, Malinowski said.

And although he just released a record on his own, Bright Lights & Bruises, Malinowski is still a part of the reggae-soul band that earned many awards including a Juno in 2006 for New Group of the Year.

“It wasn't as much not wanting to do anything with Bedouin as it was just needing to do something different,” Malinowski said. “I was going through a lot of personal changes that wouldn't necessarily fit to writing with the band so I just had these songs and put out a solo record.”

The soul-folk sound of Bright Lights & Bruises reveals the singer-songwriter's more personal side and has a darker sound than Bedouin's warm beats, he said.