New Studio Album by Malia

MPS is proud to announce One Grass Skirt To London, the new studio album by MALIA. The Malawi born singer presents a life’s story filled with tracks from her youth and important moments throughout her life.

One Grass Skirt To London is an 8,200-kilometer journey from Malawi to London, where the singer emigrated to as a teenager. Not only was it a geographical and temporal journey but also a musical one. Though most of all, it was a sentimental one, since the 14 songs carefully chosen for this album are so precious to her because of the memories they contain. Almost all are taken from film soundtracks, from “Everybody’s Talkin’” from Midnight Cowboy to “Take My Breath Away” from Top Gun, you find “Pure Imagination” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well as “Here On My Own” from Fame. All of them possess an unique power to evoke an emotion through their music that has shaped her identity, helped overcome trials, and bloom as an artist. Thus, it’s no surprise to hear, in the voice of Malia, sometimes even within the same song, the little girl, the teenager, the woman, and also, as if through a fascinating act of vocal transmigration, the soul of those who are no longer with us.

In these 14 tracks, she recounts crucial moments in her life, intense emotions, intimate revelations gleaned in the semi-darkness of cinemas in Blantyre (Malawi), Putney in South London, or in front of the family TV. It is also through film music that she pays a touching tribute to her father in “When I’m Cleaning Windows”, created by George Formby for the 1936 film Keep Your Seat Please.

“Behind each of these songs is either a memory, a personal experience or the feeling of being able to convey a part of myself. I’m aware that this album embraces different genres. But if it’s meant to convey a certain image of myself, it’s that of a music lover in the broadest sense of the word. When music touches me, moves me, it doesn’t matter to me whether it belongs to one genre or another.”

Like before, she entrusted the instrumental part to a trio comprising pianist Alexandre Saada, bassist Jean-Daniel Botta and drummer Laurent Sériès, with whom Malia has collaborated since Black Orchid. All of them helped her in making this album one of the most personal in her discography.

One Grass Skirt To London will be out on January 10th, 2025. 

The album will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Pre-order here: https://MPS.lnk.to/OneGrassSkirtToLondonPR

Listen now to the first single Everybody’s Talkin’: https://MPS.lnk.to/EverybodysTalkinPR

Watch the music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPnn99hCTYs