MAMALARKY
BIO
Mamalarky learned how to be a band on the fly. "I went to their jam space, saw a Nintendo Switch and the rest is history,ā Noor recalls of their early days. Their first show with their new bassist was in November 2018 at a memorial in a wristwatch factory where they performed next to an in-use half-pipe. Over 2019, they became a proper touring act, finding strings of live shows between their individually hectic schedules with other bands: Livvy as Cherry Glazerrās bassist, Michael as a recording and touring member of White Denim, Dylan with Big Wyās Brass Band and Noor as Faye Webster and Madame Gandhiās tour manager.
Mamalarky spent two years working on their self-titled debut album (out via Fire Talk on November 20th). Raw and cerebral, the LP looks to a range of influences from their collective musical nerdiness. ''We might have a vocal melody that sounds like the lead steel guitar from Santo & Johnny, played over production that aims to be noisy and weird like Deerhoof or Sheer Mag, all the while steeped in the greats like Stevie Wonder or The Four Seasons,' explains Livvy. The album itself was cobbled together in a mix of DIY ways: home recordings with Livvyās roommate Joey Oaxaca (White Reaper, Mo Dotti), singles with Daniel McNeill (White Denim) and a āfinal wrapping-upā with engineer Jim Vollentine (Spoon, Skating Polly).
āWe want to provide an experience that's exploratory and trippy, but far removed from the problematic and corny psych stereotypes carried out by all those 60s dude bands. It grosses us out,ā continues Livvy.
Topping it all off is Livvyās hyper-personal songwriting. āI feel really exposed putting out an album,ā she admits. Songs like āDrugstore Modelā and āDonāt Laugh at Meā were inspired by her post-college move to LA where she didnāt immediately feel like she fit in with the local scene. The single āFuryā was born out of being on the road and written during a show soundcheck. āYou Make Me Smileā had been penned in her car after an encounter with a stranger during a breezy day at the park that made Livvy reflect on her own romantic life.
ā'You Make Me Smileā came to me as I was unpacking feelings I had been repressing for a long time,ā she says of the songās origins. Even though the chorus says the songās romantic title, itās a sad, bittersweet song for Livvy. āI was transmuting this lovelorn, unexpressed, guilty feeling into something I could actually say out loud. At the time it was just a realization that my feelings for someone were never going to go away. They were always going to be carried with me whether I liked it or not.ā It was a scary but necessary realization. āI knew I was going to be sitting with this crush in my head as I bumped along the road in a van.ā
Even the bandās geological distance came to inspire the track āSchism Trek.ā In between tours together, they were split between LA and Austin. ā'Schism Trekā explores what life looks like when you're finding your way without the comfort of your friends beside you,ā the singer explains. āThe whole band was going through this in different ways as we went touring with different projects. Taking leaps and pushing our limits, we all came out stronger people for sure.ā
MAMALARKY IN THE PRESS
"Mamalarky's indie rock summons an easy and pure joy."
Nylon
"a perfect slice of lo-fi bliss."
Billboard
"'How To Say' explodes with lo-fi guitar chirps and suave dream pop vocals. Itās quite a tightly-packed ball of robust strums and lyrical yearning, bound to burst any minute, but its underlying graceful stroll always reels it back in."
Paste
"Good old fashioned indie rock. The guitars are inspired by the bright tones of shoegaze but the overall aesthetic owes a debt to late '80s art rock."
Refinery29
āMamalarky a band that emanates cool factor, with technically impressive instrumentation and a rhythm section that serves as an anchor beneath flowing synth lines and buzzy guitars.ā
Uproxx
PHOTOS
RELEASES
Mamalarky spent two years working on their self-titled debut album (out via Fire Talk on November 20th). Raw and cerebral, the LP looks to a range of influences from their collective musical nerdiness. ''We might have a vocal melody that sounds like the lead steel guitar from Santo & Johnny, played over production that aims to be noisy and weird like Deerhoof or Sheer Mag, all the while steeped in the greats like Stevie Wonder or The Four Seasons,' explains Livvy. The album itself was cobbled together in a mix of DIY ways: home recordings with Livvyās roommate Joey Oaxaca (White Reaper, Mo Dotti), singles with Daniel McNeill (White Denim) and a āfinal wrapping-upā with engineer Jim Vollentine (Spoon, Skating Polly). The result is an album thatās as musically fun and explorative as it is catchy and sweet. Or as Mamalarky puts it āWe want to provide an experience that's exploratory and trippy, but far removed from the problematic and corny psych stereotypes carried out by all those 60s dude bands.ā
1st Pressing
Creamsicle Vinyl - 400 units
Black Vinyl - 300 Units
Bright Red Vinyl - 300 Units (Indie Retail Exclusive)
'Fury was inspired by acknowledging a suppressed crush, and how scary and exciting that can be. Confronting that truth is the most important thing, despite the difficulties, I definitely learned that the hard way. It feels like our most unhinged song yet, I think you can really get that energy from the layers of guitars and doubled bass line.
I wrote the chord progression for Fury during a soundcheck, feeling pretty pent up after a long drive and wanting something entertaining to play. The lyrics also got written in one go right after we recorded the drums, bass, and guitar tracks, so it feels really untampered with to me. Now that I think of it, the synth hook also happened spontaneously while we were recording, with no rehearsed part written. It's nice to have a song tumble out into the world like you're throwing dice, just seeing what you'll get. That's the general life strategy for Mamalarky lately!!!
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Iām bored. we're all bored. we wrote and recorded a song during this boring time. Here is exactly what it sounds like as a waveform. It's about falling in love and not knowing exactly how to say it yet. This concept of shared love-'you say you love me but what does that mean?' It's like...does love mean the same thing to both of us? Can it ever entirely mean the same thing, being different people who experience life so differently? Maybe that's why they invented the 5 love languages, to reconcile with these little differences in how we give and take and feel love? Maybe this expression that you're listening to now is as close to an understanding of love as anything else. Everything on this track is the first take, meaning we only recorded each part once. It was home recorded, right after SXSW was called off by the covid. It was meant to be a demo and then we were like...actually this sounds more genuine than it would if we just sat in a studio and hacked away at different takes, trying to make it perfect. The result is organic and cage free, but may contain soy and tree nuts.
MUSIC
VIDEO
LINKS
PRESS: tom@hivemindpr.com
RADIO: shannon@terrorbird.com
SYNC: syncteam@terrorbird.com
LABEL: trevor@firetalkrecords.com
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