Mallrat Conjures The Celestial and Caustic With “Ray Of Light”

Mallrat today shares her second release of the year, the animated “Hocus Pocus,” charged with a misty electronic soundscape. LISTEN HERE + WATCH HERE.

Embracing her experimental roots, “Hocus Pocus” juxtaposes a Memphis rap sample of DJ Zirk’s “Born2 Lose” with spacey broken beat and bass, painting a dream of human interaction. Produced by Styalz Fuego (Troye Sivan, Tate McRae) and Kito (Skrillex, FLETCHER), the club-led release maintains a sleek intimacy in sound, continuing on Mallrat’s inquisitive exploration of light amongst human relationships from the solace first found in “Ray Of Light.”

Unraveling a revelry of dance music with Mallrat’s signature airy vocals, ”Hocus Pocus” bounces to the shadows. Exploring the warm allure of getting to know someone (“When I’m in your atmosphere I fall under your spell”), to puncturing intoxicating trickery (“Just like a rubber band, I feel my heart expand. How long till snap?”).

Speaking to its making, of “Hocus Pocus” Mallrat shares, “I fell over and fractured my arm dancing to this demo on a walk home. I couldn’t help but be excited! I had to wear a cast and sling. When I was writing the pre-chorus section of this song, I was thinking of the sharp inhale breaths as lyrics that needed their own moment, kind of like a punchline. A lot of the time in pop music, breaths are edited out and turned down, but they felt important here to me.”

With the release comes a cosmic music video directed by Tom Carroll, illustrating an interplay of divergent forces, further cementing the praise for Mallrat’s astute balance of the picturesque with the acerbic in her latest release “Ray Of Light.” Her return was fiercely welcomed by Stereogum, Dork, Rolling Stone, triple j, NME, and more. Through “Hocus Pocus,” Mallrat has once again unearthed another precious gemstone from the rubble of human connections.

“Hocus Pocus” is out now, buy/stream it here.