New Zealand's growing reputation for turning out mysterious musical prodigies continues with the inscrutably monikered MAALA. With a name chosen from a pile of random Scrabble letters, 24 year old MAALA (nee Evan Sinton of Auckland) debuted on SoundCloud in March 2015 with ‘Touch’ and the song’s aching minimal electro majesty quickly picked up listeners and interest on a global scale. Zane Lowe was amongst those immediately curious and, tracking MAALA down to his own home country, he was quick to move and debut next track ‘In The Air’ on Apple Music Beats One.
MAALA’s 5-track self-titled EP, released last year, debuted at #1 on the iTunes NZ chart and #3 on the NZ Top 40 album chart. With a combined 2.5MM+ streams and extensive international blog pickup from the likes of HillyDilly, AcidStag, Hhhhappy, and Sniffers – MAALA has become an artist everyone is keenly watching.
New single ‘Kind of Love’ is the first cut off MAALA’s debut album “Composure” expected July 29. All 10 tracks were recorded in the autumn at Golden Age Studios in Auckland, with producer Josh Fountain (Leisure). It also features writing collaborations with US songwriter MoZella (Miley Cyrus ‘Wrecking Ball’, One Direction ‘Perfect,’) and New Zealand’s own Leroy Clampitt (Justin Bieber – ‘Company’), along with additional collaborations with Rihanna, Madonna, Tinashe, and more