LISTEN: Malka – ‘Matriarch’

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
@gotnomoniker

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#ThrowbackThursday: GIHE w/ Indian Queens 16.11.17

Due to the current lockdown/coronavirus situation, we’re unable to make it in to the Hoxton Radio studio to broadcast our live new music show from 7-9pm for the foreseeable future.

We have plenty of past shows to share with you though! We’re going to start sharing some #ThrowbackThursday sessions, so you can still enjoy 2 hours of new music, and chats with some of our favourite artists each week.

Today, we’ve picked our November 2017 show with Jennifer O’Neill from Indian Queens. The band are set to release their debut album God Is A Woman tomorrow (3rd April) via Cool Thing Records, so we thought now would be a great time to re-visit our chat with Jen.

Music highlights from Bikini Kill, Average Sex, Gold Baby, MALKA, Edits and…Jennifer Paige #crush

Listen back to the show here:

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Track Of The Day: MALKA – ‘No No No’

I was lucky enough to catch GIHE fave and past guest on the radio show, the glorious MALKA, live last week at The Lexington. A simply joyous experience, she dazzled in her lion head-dress and sparkling leotard; a shimmering delight to watch. And, despite confiding in us that she was losing her voice, her vocal performance succeeded in flowing perfectly alongside the infectious tribal beats and twinkling musicality of each offering.

A Lauren Laverne favourite, MALKA recently released her latest album Ratatatat – a rather more politically-inspired collection than her debut Marching To Another Beat; but no less vibrant.

An example of the album’s socially aware subject matter is ‘No No No’. Inspired by the current threat our NHS is under, and our fight to protect it, it’s a colourful offering oozing throbbing beats alongside bubbly hooks, brass melodies and MALKA’s playful chirps. With hints of the likes of MIA, it makes for a totally immersive and utterly uplifting sonic delight.

Of the track, MALKA explains:

“‘No No No’ was one of the first songs I wrote for the new album. It helped me to define the sound I wanted to go for. Lyrically the song is about the NHS. The fight to protect something of great importance to our country, but equally it could be about fighting for something you really believe in.”

 

Ratatatat is out now.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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Album: MALKA – ‘Ratatatat’

“I wasn’t afraid, lyrically, of going back to my folk roots. I would write a lot of social commentary then and I’m quite politically aware; with 6DR there was a lot about what’s going on in the world, and with MALKA I kind of didn’t do that. I’d popped it up a little bit… but I went back lyrically to my roots and found a balance of who I wanted to be on this album.”

The second album from Tamara Schlesinger under her MALKA moniker (and her eighth overall) follows 2015’s Marching To A Different Beat. Musically, pop synths and tribal rhythms provide a bright counterpart to the shadow cast lyrically; in a time of societal upheaval and global uncertainty, Ratatatat provides a brief freedom from those fears, and a commitment to life-affirming art.

Opening with ‘Fell For You’ there is a hint of MIA, whilst the bubbling classic pop bass lines are reminiscent of The Cure; but there’s also an edge as chirps, chants and whoops play around a snapping beat. It’s a great introduction to a fascinating and immersive collection built on intricate details of loops, found sounds and repeating refrains.

‘Wonder Why’ may be the track that listeners are already familiar with – released between albums, it caught the ear of Lauren Laverne and made her best of the year list. It’s bright and brilliant pop, catchy in the ubiquitous way but with a depth and a creativity that delights.

There’s a definite theme to the melody throughout the album, but enough variety between tracks that the only sense of repeating is in the deliberate loops of beats and vocal. With lead vocals that are often sing song, and layered with deeper backing there is an Afrobeat element to these pop tunes, lifting them and embedding them in your head.

Intelligent, creative and as hopeful as it is reflective, this is an album to excite in all the right ways; a light in dark times.

Ratatatat by MALKA is out on 20 October 2017 and is available for pre-order here. And you can catch her live throughout November:

1 November – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
2 November – Hug and Pint, Glasgow
3 November – We Are Robots, London
13 November – The Walrus, Brighton
14 November – The Lexington, London
15 November – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham.

 

Sarah Lay 
@sarahlay

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