Safe Then Sorry is the new four track EP release from Brooklyn-based Filipino-American Indie artist Malia DelaCruz under the name CIAO MALZ. It was recorded quickly to ensure the songs remain fresh and Malia says, “Safe Then Sorry is a rest stop on the path most traveled. I wrote the bulk of the EP after work, these stories and characters came to me subconsciously and asked to be spoken into existence. These songs are about the unlikely connections we make, how they’re simultaneously inexplicable and meaningful. I work through these contradictions with unpredictable melodies, explosive choruses, and with the recording process itself. We did everything on the fly to capture as much raw emotion as could fit in the four walls of the basement studio. I wanted the project to feel how it did when I was messing around on GarageBand on my first computer — unrestrained.“
From the opening track ‘Two Feet Tall’ is about “the feeling of losing an inch every day you put off making that call you really need to make. It’s the pile of clothes growing bigger and feeling yourself getting smaller” and there is a woozy warmth that embraces you due to the laidback wobble of guitar tremolo and the slow side-to-side-slide of Maria DelaCruz’s captivating vocal delivery. This is pitted against wonderfully frenetic drums and pulsing 4/4 bass line. ‘Bad for the Bad Guy’ floats along on acoustic guitar and delicate drums with elongated riffs that thread their way around the happy lethargy of the lightly doubled vocals; a loose, dreamy vibe that carries into ‘Take Me Out of Here’. ‘Gold Rush’ closes the EP, and it has the kind of bounce that sails a bossa beat very close to the shores of Copacabana beach.
These tracks are buoyant and a little off-balance (think Friday happy drunk walking with purpose despite their broken compass) with arrangements that make an asset out of their looseness. The EP crackles with confidence and that woozy warmth is not without its sharp edges. Four perfect slices of marshmallow and peanut brittle pop.
CIAO MALZ socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Written By: Malia DelaCruz
Produced By: Malia DelaCruz
Guitar: Malia DelaCruz & James Chrisman
Drums: Felix Walworth
Release on the Audio Antihero label.
Review by Paul F Cook
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