{"id":19836,"date":"2026-07-28T12:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19836"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:32:20","slug":"mal-sounds-calming-dream-pop-will-make-you-look-at-the-world-anew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19836","title":{"rendered":"mal sounds&#8217; calming dream-pop will make you look at the world anew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>In partnership with BandLab<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Though mal sounds was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the neighbourhood he still calls home today, the origins of his artist project lie in Valencia. In early 2020, he flew to Spain to visit his grandmother and cousins, then found himself grounded by COVID-19. \u201cI basically always knew I wanted to be a musician,\u201d says mal, whose government name is Amal Buford. \u201cBut what I found in Spain was a sense of clarity. Music had always been a social thing for me, so when that social aspect was taken away, I had to ask myself: \u2018What is the deeper meaning? Why am I doing this?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After rebranding himself mal sounds, he enjoyed early success when his wistful chillwave bop \u2018VVS\u2019 popped on Instagram in 2021. Since then, he\u2019s released a pair of equally atmospheric EPs \u2013 2021\u2019s \u2018Freak And Wild Things\u2019 and 2024\u2019s \u2018Still In New York\u2019 \u2013 and continued to hone his ineffably nostalgic dream-pop sound. \u201cMy purpose as a musician is to create [sonic] spaces that can help people to see or process things differently,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Now he\u2019s been selected for BandLab And NME\u2019s Get Featured initiative, which gives emerging artists a chance to be heard by <em>NME<\/em>\u2018s global audience of music fans. It\u2019s fortuitous timing for mal, who\u2019s about to drop his balmy debut album \u2018Don\u2019t Hold Your Breath\u2019 \u2013 and a partnership that really feeds his artistry. \u201cBandLab feels like a social media platform that\u2019s full of musicians,\u201d he says. \u201cOften I\u2019ll go on BandLab to listen to new songs by people I don\u2019t know yet. It\u2019s just a powerful tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3959325\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3959325\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3959325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar.jpg\" alt=\"mal sounds\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar-800x1200.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar-696x1044.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar-1392x2087.jpg 1392w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_guitar-1068x1601.jpg 1068w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3959325\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">mal sounds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Here, mal talks about the challenging aspects of being a DIY musician and how he\u2019s learned to prioritise the soothing musical world that he\u2019s creating.<\/p>\n<h2>Hi, mal! So why is now the right time to release your debut album?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really the first time I\u2019ve written this many songs that feel like they\u2019re in the same world and pushing a particular feeling and narrative. You know, I\u2019ve felt a lot of frustration with the music industry and just being a musician generally, so working on this album was a very healing and grounding experience. I feel like I made a conscious decision to go back to basics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018Don\u2019t Hold Your Breath\u2019 because I was just frustrated with the whole culture of every artist being their own mini-A&amp;R in their head. We\u2019re kind of encouraged to overthink everything all the time \u2013 like: \u2018What should I be doing next?\u2019 That just felt so contrived, so in the end I thought: \u2018What are you waiting for? Don\u2019t hold your breath, just do the album.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>How would you describe the overall narrative you\u2019ve honed on the album?<\/h2>\n<p>\u200b\u200b\u201dI\u2019m really into this idea of cycles and iterations. Throughout my twenties, I found myself learning the same lesson over and over again, just in different ways. And so I think this album is a story of coming to peace with that cycle. The other side is the story of how I un-shrunk myself \u2013 and how someone [else] can un-shrink themselves. By \u2018unshrink\u2019, I mean develop a sense of self that\u2019s bigger than all these boxes and constrictions that we might create for ourselves, just to feel safer or to appeal to other people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was also interested in the infinite space that can exist inside someone\u2019s head. I\u2019m a producer first and foremost, so when I was developing the sound of the album, I was trying to get to this place where the hollow feeling of the guitars almost echoes, like, the cavern of your brain. For me, that\u2019s as much of a part of the story as the lyrical narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"mal sounds - Fall Into You\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bxP9itKe8zc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>The album has such a calming, balmy quality to it \u2013 was that very much intentional?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI think calming, but with a sense of focus. There was a time when I was listening to a lot of ambient music \u2013 and I\u2019ve always really been into shoegaze too. So I was thinking about how cool it is that a song\u2019s vocal can be a storytelling tool, but also a focus point for human connection. Like, because we naturally want to hear a human voice, that voice can really bring you on a journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to ride my bike, so I was thinking about how people could listen to this album as they ride a bike or just go for a walk. I was thinking of ways I could use the music to help people get into that calmer state of mind and be more observant of what\u2019s going on around them.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Six years after your Valencia epiphany, what aspects of being a musician do you find most challenging?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI feel like it\u2019s very challenging to keep your world small enough to be\u2026 like, I want to say, an effective artist. What I mean is keeping your world small enough to stay focused on what it is that you\u2019re actually trying to do. That\u2019s something I struggle with every day, because it\u2019s so easy to find new stimuli and new ideas. And if you find those ideas on your phone, it\u2019s basically just all marketing \u2013 and it\u2019s probably going to be very convincing because it\u2019s designed to appeal to you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3959323\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3959323\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3959323\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin.jpg\" alt=\"mal sounds\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin-800x1200.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin-696x1044.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin-1392x2087.jpg 1392w, https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_chin-1068x1601.jpg 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3959323\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">mal sounds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<h2>In a related sense, as a DIY artist, you almost have two jobs: to make music, then to promote it on social media\u2026<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cBasically, yeah. But I try to cope with that by imagining that, at the end of the day, you have to choose one hill to die on. Like, you can do both, but at some point you have to prioritise. This goes back to the album. I had to be like: \u2018I\u2019m just gonna finish the album \u2013 and then if the social media thing happens, that\u2019s great.\u2019 I don\u2019t want making music ever to be something that makes me mean or sour. I always want making music to be something I love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Don\u2019t Hold Your Breath\u2019 by mal sounds drops on September 26 via factory setting<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In partnership with BandLab Though mal sounds was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the neighbourhood he still calls home today, the origins of his artist project lie in Valencia. In early 2020, he flew to Spain to visit his grandmother and cousins, then found himself grounded by COVID-19. \u201cI basically always knew I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mal_sounds_fists.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}