Mali Mali releases new album “I Was Told to Keep an Eye Out”
In a swift follow up to 2018’s Azimuth, 2020 sees the release of Mali Mali’s new album I Was Told to Keep an Eye Out.
Ben Tolich’s songwriting exhibits a depth of maturity and poeticism buoyed by a cutting edge, and an instrumental sophistication. Recorded once again at his home studio on Tamaki Makaurau’s North Shore, I Was Told to Keep an Eye Out calls to the experimental nature-pop of Alaistair Gailbraith, and to the razor-sharp lyrical intelligence of both Bill Direen and Peter Jefferies.
The nine tracks brim with succinct yet poetically explorative meditations buoyed by textures of reverberant piano, delicate guitar, explorative synths, and percussive loops. Tolich’s poetic lyrics explore complexities of social, cultural and class distinctions, grounded in a distinctly NZ melancholy and self-deprecating humour.
Tolich’s verbose songwriting is both earnest yet wry; offering a sincerity that never tips into naval-gazing as it paints a stark image: of a remote social and geographic climate levelled with metaphysical – and ontological – concerns.
A quiet tension permeates throughout the record, marrying surreal and existential images with a rich pleasure in the subtle details of mundane life. This tension is cleverly echoed between acoustic and electronic elements, Tolich’s assured voice and acoustic instrumentation at times devolving beautifully into effect-laden choir vocals and sonic rushes fit for the 1990s.
The album title itself nods to the songs’ energetic anxiety, as does the 1993 Bill Hammond painting that graces the cover, generously supplied by Wellington’s Suter Gallery.
While his production reaches sweeping new levels of accomplishment, Tolich is also a compelling live performer. Mali Mali has toured Australia and New Zealand extensively both solo and with a band, and supported such international acts as Perfume Genius, Jordan Ireland, Soda Eaves and Boy & Bear.
I Was Told to Keep an Eye Out is out now via Home Alone music and available digitally and on vinyl.
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