Kirsten Mallyon is a local Nillumbik songwriter who creates gentle folk music, with a nylon string vintage Maton guitar.
She has played music all her life, but only begun writing in the last few years after contracting Long Covid.
Her music is personal, vulnerable and sprung from rich experience, influenced by musicians like Leonard Cohen, Adrienne Lenker, Elliot Smith and Sufjan Stevens, and poets like Anne Sexton and Mary Oliver.
Her songs explore the experience of living with illness, isolation, disconnection with the pace of modern life, the experience of womanhood, the power of community, and her love of nature.
Songs
Sometimes ©2025 Kirsten Mallyon
Sometimes
I climb
Back inside my bed
And I can’t find
Where I’ve
Gone and lost my head
And I’m resigned
To this state of mind
Though I’m tormented
And I will try
To keep in mind
It’s not permanent
And I watch my breath it slows me
I don’t feel like this mostly
Remind myself it’s only
Sometimes
Sometimes
Be kind
My own ally
When I’m such a mess
Keep trying
New storylines
I’m not defined by illness
Don’t rewind
A thousand times
All the plans I’ve missed
No, just cry
Let it float on by
Feelings don’t persist
And I watch my breath it slows me
I don’t feel like this mostly
Remind myself it’s only
Sometimes
Sometimes
It’s only sometimes
It’s only sometimes
And I watch my breath it slows me
I don’t feel like this mostly
Remind myself it’s only
Sometimes
Sometimes
I don’t mind ©2025 Kirsten Mallyon
She was a shape shifter
Watching keenly for hard feelings
Morphing into every different disguise
Face smiling, concealing
She’ll be kind, she’ll give you everything you need
She’ll be kind, whatever’s going on she’ll see
She says I don’t mind
Walk all over me
I’ll clean up all your footprints
I don’t mind
I don’t mind, at all
Yeh, I don’t mind
Bend over backwards
Until it makes me wince
But I don’t mind
I don’t mind at all
If I can’t speak can you please read what’s on my mind
Cause it’s hard for me to say
Can I escape this needing to be so polite?
My feelings honestly convey
I’ll be kind, I’ll give you everything you need
I’ll be kind, whatever’s going on I’ll see
And I don’t mind
Walk all over me
I’ll clean up all your footprints
I don’t mind
I don’t mind at all
Yeh, I don’t mind
Bend over backwards
Until it makes me wince
But I don’t mind
I don’t mind at all
If you don’t like me drawing lines
It’s your problem not mine
If you’re upset that’s just fine
Cause, you know, it’s my life
And I do mind
Walk away from me
And clean up your own mess
Yeh I do mind, I do mind
That’s all
Yeh I do mind, I do mind
I don’t bend that way
It hurts me
I do mind, I do mind
That’s all.
Long Haul ©2025 Kirsten Mallyon
I’ve been driving all night
And I’m tired
Can’t keep steady despite
Trying
Can’t see the horizon
Dunno if it’s there
I’m blinded by the morning sun
Frozen in the air
Yeh its a long, long haul
For almost everyone
It’s all over
But will I ever be done?
Or any closer?
Can’t see the horizon
Dunno if it’s there
I’m blinded by the morning sun
Frozen in the air
Yeh its a long, long haul
Yeh its a long, long haul
Exploring this new frontier
Feels like I’m alone
Hell of a thing to pioneer
Hell of a thing to try and control
Its a long, long haul
Yeh its a long, long haul