Malkotron crafts our own world to enjoy, between a certain heaven and hell. The artist from Houston, Texas, has been steadily building his own catalogue for more than a decade now. Whether they are progressive ambiences or hard-hitting lyrical endeavours, he is capable of them all. Using textures of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, he has been able to blend a tapestry that is unique to his own character. This is his latest album, No Paradise. Who knew our doom could have this much beauty?
Setting the scene
The atmosphere sets in with Woeful Dust as the opening song of this album. It allows you to soak in a certain chord progression as gentle piano notes appear over a felted horizon. The Mellotron lead comes in with purpose, building a narrative for what has to come. All this while the piano note stays steady, having an innate percussive quality to it. Malkotron makes his soul speak the moment you listen to Sleep is Free. There is a melancholic quality to it, and you search, through the lyrics, for a silver lining. There is clever use of space within the track as the instrumental layers blend into the background.
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You wouldn’t expect a sudden change of pace within the song. This is where Malkotron exercises his composition skills. Each instrumental solo sews the next section of the song, almost with a certain foreshadowing. The next song in the album is truly an epic and worth every second of the journey. It is called Lost and Found, taking you through the expressions of being lost first and the discovery. Call it a neobaroque theatre where you are invested in every section of the play. All credit goes to Malkotron to detail the track to this degree, where you’re embedded into the song as a necessary observer.
A vision so clear
What I would call a ballad-styled track comes in next with Dusty Beams of Light. It has very interesting percussion soundscapes, vocal lines, and harmonies that lean into the emotive and poetic nature of the song. The closing is especially sweet, leaving the thread one end open for you to dream about. Malkotron really stretches his abilities into new themes in this album. Unlike Harvest, there is a duality he is playing with here, in ambient aspects and reveries generated in his songs. One Bad Day has a cinematic script wound around it, with parts of the song divided into succinct sections. They come with a depth that the musician has already envisioned, like a well-framed painting to stare at.
Through these complex visions, Malkotron proves that the songwriting strain is strong within him. The depth of composition, detail, and the way he allows the song to imbibe the space is intense and special. Go ahead, treat yourself to No Paradise:
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