Tamara Schlesinger has been making music for over fifteen years, first as the leader of alt-folk collective 6 Day Riot and since 2014 as a solo artist under the name MALKA. Her music has been featured on Hollywood blockbusters and TV series (127 Hours, Scream IV and Skins), and across MTV and Netflix. So, now, 2023 sees the return of MALKA with her upcoming synth-based album, Anatomy of Sight.
‘Matriarch‘, the second single to be taken from the album (following ‘Flashlight’), further expands MALKA’s journey into synths and solo production; and as the opener sets the tone for the album as a whole. Of the track, MALKA explains:
“(Matriarch is about) that feeling of trying to juggle everything, trying to find that balance in life and wondering whether you have made the right decisions along the way. But it is also about that fierce pride of succeeding with something, especially when you have achieved it alone.”
The song begins with an eerily ethereal chime – an organ-like/slide guitar sound – quickly leading into the intro where MALKA’S voice is centred and layered, among the bouncy ’80s synths, becoming expansive as the chorus builds. Emanating both light and shade with its swirling soundscape, the second verse oozes a sense of vulnerability, the lyrics alluding to leaving a bad situation and starting over – “change the story now, every page just feels the same”. Moments of confusion are displayed in the voice distortion of the middle-eight, whilst the empowering chorus returns throughout; reminding us of those bitter sweet moments when navigating personal adversity. A shimmering, stirring reflection on life’s challenges and achievements.
Anatomy Of Sight, the upcoming new album from Malka, is set for release on 29th September via Tantrum Records.
Fi Ni Aicead
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