MALO - Akai Ito

Ever hear a track and immediately want to know the story behind the title? ‘Akai Ito’ is the Japanese red thread of fate — the invisible string that ties people destined to meet — and MALO builds a whole piece of melodic electronica around that ache of connection-at-a-distance. It’s delicate stuff, all plucked synths and a beat that taps rather than hits, the kind of thing MrSuicideSheep has been championing for over a decade now. The melody has a genuine East-Asian lilt to it that never tips into pastiche, and around the two-minute mark a vocal chop enters that sounds like someone half-remembering a phrase in a language they used to speak. What I like is how much it holds back. There’s a version of this track with a huge future-bass drop, and MALO deliberately doesn’t make it, letting the emotion stay quiet instead. It’s the sonic equivalent of a feeling you can’t quite name but recognise instantly. I put it on to work and ended up just sitting there for four minutes. Some tracks are events; this one’s a mood you disappear into.

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