Malachai – Return to the Ugly Side (Domino)
4/5
By: Richard Brant
They’ve been to “the ugly side” and now they make their return in an album as unconventional as ever. The Bristolian duo “Malakai” or as we should now say “Malachai” (darn rappers, so precious about their “trademarked” alter ego’s) remain mysterious characters, however in the recent video accompanying ‘Let ‘em Fall’ we have seen the face of the man behind the monkey mask. The significance of this may actually be slight, but you get the feeling that Malachai are little more comfortable with what they want to achieve kicking it up a notch on the grandnessometer (yes, pretty much just made a word up – get me!).
This mentioned grandness is instantly apparent in ‘Monsters’ the introduction of Return to the Ugly Side. The stringed sequence has a cinematic emotion evoking quality, with the percussion led industrial sounds helping to break up its purity. They then reference one of the most chilling string sequences ever put to film in the Jaws like string stabs that flow out in to a plateau for the album to spring off. ‘Anne’ uses this platform and the steady, yet erratic, drums set the tempo for this lazy, psychedelic, dream warped track with reggae like vocals provided by Gee.
The mean sounding and excellently titled ‘Mid Antarctica (Wearin’ Sandals)’ has an experimental feel as rock and electronic samples meet hip hop beats, Gee’s vocals flittering between singing and talking. Almost to contrast this in the most apparent way the lullaby like sounds ‘Rainbows’ meet the end to take you off in to dream world. Katy Wainwright’s accompanying vocals make sure this new subconscious scenery is complete.
The drum beat led psychedelic sounds of ‘(My) Ambulance’ has a very Liam Finn like overtone to it as Gee proclaims the healing power of a longed love one. That almost pop like blast is met with the Native American tribal drums of ‘Distance’ a piano flanked illustration of isolation. This feeling and atmosphere conjured leads intriguingly back in to the production of track 1, ‘Monsters,’ except we’ve now dropped the “s” in track eight, as Gee sings over the top “I don’t want to be the monster, I don’t want to be the one you run from, I should be the one you run to…”
‘The Don’t Just’ takes this theme of isolation and confusion and wraps it in 70’s soul, Gee’s vocals again dipping in to a reggae tone, revealing a longing for the complication of love to get that bit simpler. Taking a leaf from the book of The Heavy’s retro soul sound, ‘How You Write’ allows Gees voice to engage in a blues like lounge croon, less strained and pure, showing more diversity to his vocal abilities. ‘Let ‘Em Fall’ mentioned earlier takes the ideals of the previous and bolsters the pace adding some venom in the growling funk bass line.
Psychadelica is back as the strolling ‘No More Rain, No Maureen’ almost paints a picture of a parting of ways, leaving the heart ache behind. ‘Snake Eyes’ falls in place to calm with the soothing string arrangements of this instrumental facilitating this. This calm is abruptly brought to a close with the oddity that is the closing track of Return to the Ugly Side ‘HyberNation.’ It’s a bizarre little finale all listless and lazy, like all the energy has been spent on the Return to the Ugly Side, and now from this “hibernation” of love neurosis, it’s time to get back out. If this is the intention it’s a great ending.
This album will probably split opinion. There are of course some tunes that will appeal to all, but there is also the downright bizarre as well... however put in to the context of the album as a whole, they make total sense. It’s certainly more structured than the previous offering, and I expect that Malachai went in to the recording process with a grander scheme in mind. It does take a number of listens to really get to grips with these intricacies, but the overall result is that they have made something that both stays true to their vision, and pushes it forward.
Malachai - Rainbows (Feat. Katy Wainwright) by DominoRecordCo
Artists in this article: Malakai
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment