Emo. Traumacore. These are two of the labels attached to MALLRAT as tags on their Bandcamp page. It sounds kind of depressing. But beneath their gnarly, stripped down, heavy-heavy-soft sound is a transcendent – almost bubbly – joyousness that’s bursting with sonic life. The band’s playful tweets give an insight into a playful, humane sensibility that blooms throughout their music:
"all my life thought i only liked pop and pop punk but i actually also like pop country"
The subject matter on the quick, fleeting cuts that make up every breath a fracture (like standout track “i don’t really wanna try”) may be somber, but the feeling in every raw chord and singer Melo Davis’ vocals reveals a blissfulness that can’t be contained. MALLRAT make depressing music that actually isn’t very depressing at all. -juan leon