Mallrat’s new EP, In the Sky, bottles up emotion and hands it to you in a dreamy, electro-pop vial. The music she makes is personal, nostalgic. But it’s music for the world, and the world is drinking it up. In The Sky drops this week, Mallrat aka is 19 year old Brisbane local, Grace Shaw and to discuss a love of things that feel old, making the move to L.A, and the ins and outs of her new EP (which she promises is miles ahead of her last one). In the Sky is from a song by The Orwells a song she loved so when she needed a name, when I heard it, it just felt really angsty and like a 90s teen movie. I just love the 90s so I thought it seemed like a good fit.
The rat has become kind of like a symbol for you. Is that just from your name mallrat? Is there any other meaning. Well when I was little my teeth were crooked and I went to my parents and I was like“look, I’m a rat” and they were like “ah, she needs braces”. They took me to the orthodontist and they were like, “quick, we have to fix this issue”.
Mallrat says I think the production on it is sick so I’m really excited for people to listen to it with their headphones on and just find new things they like about all of the songs. And I think all the song are really different to each other as well. But yeah, I love it. So, with the first EP, it was my first time making music. They were literally the first six songs I ever made. So I was figuring it out as I went. I wrote all the lyrics and the melodies but I was just being sent beats on SoundCloud to use. Whereas, with this EP, I co-produced everything. I was a lot more involved in the whole process, which is cool.
In The Sky tracklist Groceries, what’s it about? Mallrat says it’s funny because most of my songs, I don’t mean them to be about anything. It just like ends up feeling like something. But this one, I guess, you could say is about something. It’s about having a crush but not wanting to have a crush on someone. Being like, this is so annoying, I don’t want this. I love being independent, so when you really like someone it can be annoying.
Texas. It’s just a bit emo. And it’s about wanting someone to be well but they’re just struggling. Better. The same thing. Just wanting the best for somebody. UFO is about feeling like an alien. I don’t know how to explain it. Like, I’m sure everybody feels like this sometimes, I don’t feel as if I’m like any of these people. I love all of these people but there’s just something that feels very different. I think I could be from another planet, maybe that’s the only logical explanation. Make Time is my favourite. I don’t know what it’s about. It’s just very calming.
Because I think a lot of people when they write, they want to create a storyline with a character and you get to see where the character is going like a story. But for me, I would just rather pull an emotion, bottle up an emotion that people can listen to and attach to their own narratives, and be like, “oh that’s me”.
In The Sky is out June 1st via Dew Process. released May 31st, 2018
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