Premiere: Malamiko "all pleasant dreams"
Reviews by: Dan DeMarco, Writer @itsadmiralfox
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, owner/editor @PlaylistTC
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Great news everyone, the debut Malamiko record is here! Malamiko is a self-described queer emo/shoegaze trio composed of guitarist and vocalist Daisy Swimmer, bassist Ryan Schneider, and drummer Rhys Finnegan, and they’re awesome. Fans of the band have found themselves enamoured with Malamiko’s eargasmic blend of deliciously dense shoegaze textures with engaging songwriting and urgent, emotionally potent lyrics. Even newer listeners such as myself have been clamoring for an album release for a decent chunk of time (read: three months), and I’m happy to report that all pleasant dreams delivers on all fronts.
“butterflies” is the first track on the record; it’s also the album’s first single and the first Malamiko song I ever heard. You hear certain songs from new bands and already know that they will become classics--such is the case with “butterflies”. The coaxing guitar loops that Daisy invites the listener in with might lull you into a false sense of security for a moment before Ryan’s bass and Rhys’s drums crash in with a massive wall of sound. Over this, Daisy delivers a series of bold, painful observations about the life of a trans woman. This tension comes to a head at the line “they kill us all instead”, after which the song enters an intense final phase that builds and builds and builds up to an atonal haze of noise and feedback. It’s a banger, it’s uniquely Malamiko, and it’s an excellent first impression.
This band seems to have an intuitive grasp of how to use tension, texture and soundplay to express complicated emotions. The tangles of grief and pain exhibited in these tracks are communicated as much through their sound palettes and compositions, as through their lyrics. Case in point: “untitled (for félix)”, a definite album highlight. Daisy’s forlorn guitar line and Rhys’s patient drums guide us through the song’s melancholy first half, which is submerged in delay effects and heavy ruminations on loss. But the storm breaks in the second half as the rhythm doubles up and sends the song into overdrive. All the emotions the band has been conjuring spill out to the surface as Daisy’s cries of “It’s all for you” bring the song home in an excellent cathartic finish. The shoegazy ear candy is here, the solid songwriting is here, and it’s all working together to create a stunning piece on grief.
After giving us four hazy bangers in a row, Malamiko generously serves up two incredibly gratifying longer-length cuts, starting with what I would call the record’s centerpiece. “false vacuum decay” is an excellent example of how to effectively write a slow burn. The icy introductory synths and Ryan’s steady bass groove provide an anchor to Rhys’s frenetic drums, which carry us through the meat of the song. Over this foundation, Daisy delivers some incredible lyrics, probably the best on the record. I’m just gonna say it, this song is a standout achievement. It’s a ten-and-a-half-minute journey and is worth every second. Again, the band expertly builds tension in subtle ways throughout, tension that perfectly mirrors the internal turmoil invoked by the words as they progress. There are so many details within this song to pick out, like the way Rhys’s drums get more agitated when Daisy sings “I’ve never had a pleasant dream, and I hope it makes you happy”. Little moments that demonstrate that these folks are masters at tension and release. Times when they cash in on this tension, like when the final leg of this song pops off, the band reaches a transcendent peak of sheer bliss. I’ve been lucky enough to hear this song live, and when they drop this final moment on the crowd, the vibes are so ecstatic and immense that it’s almost spiritual. If you only listen to one song off the record (listen to the whole thing) make it this one (listen to the whole thing for real though).
The band follows this up with “loveless, tongue-tied”, probably the freakiest track on the album. Another woolly ten-minute mammoth, this track features a truly eerie vocal performance from Daisy as she slips into her falsetto over a sinister guitar line, then plunges into a pained, plaintive cry for the heavy chorus sections. Daisy’s vocals have steered us through most of the record’s lofty highs and depressing lows, but there’s a tranquil anger unique to her delivery here. Especially during chilling lines like “I won’t die before you/I’m already dead to you”, the vocals here seem to be masking a rage just under the surface, almost disassociatively. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk but the band pulls it off, sustaining this frightening tension from the first note, then letting it break at just the right time over the song’s multiple climaxes. This track keeps you guessing as the sound palette swerves from foreboding rock passages to horror-movie synth lines to a saxophone freakout to a slowcore breakdown. There are so many left hooks throughout the piece yet it all feels so locked in and cohesive that you barely notice ten minutes have passed until the final tones from the outro have drifted away.
There’s a lot to love about this record. It’s ambitious, it’s immersive, it’s detailed, it’s beautiful.
There is so much talent on display here, from the band as well as the numerous guests featured throughout. If you love sounds and soundplay, pick this record up. If you love progressive song structures, pick this record up. If you love authentic and emotional songwriting, pick this record up. all pleasant dreams perfectly navigates the balance between composition and emotion, between ear candy and complexity, between the serene and the painful. It’s a stunning debut and I can’t wait for more.
