Mali Pays Homage to Synth-Pop with Debut LP ‘Caution to the Wind'

The new record has been in the making since 2019

- DAVID BRITTO

Chennai-bred singer-songwriter Maalavika Manoj aka Mali has probably had the best kind of trajectory to her music career. With each step – from releasing her single “Dreaming” in 2016 to her debut five-track EP Rush the following year – the artist has grown tenfold with her craft. Now, the musician is ready to set the icing on her cake with the release of her debut full-length eight-track album titled Caution to the Wind.

LEADING UP TO THE ALBUM, MALI RELEASED three singles last year to make sure that there’s a buzz about the record by the time it came out. She says, “Despite how bad 2020 was, I’m still glad I managed to release singles.”

Caution to the Wind began bubbling in 2019 when Mali approached Mumbai-based producer Arnob Bal after working with him on singer-songwriter Short Round’s album Favourite Strangers. “I found his [Bal] ideas and process quite intriguing,” says Mali. According to the artist, the initial sessions were filled with listening and having conversations while also running demos of the album. The singer-songwriter says, “I would describe to Arnob what parts I was hearing for various instruments and he would leave me with an open Ableton session while he went off to make coffee for us, in an effort to push me to translate those ideas into production myself.”