Frank Malachi
Frank Malachi may be the most beautiful person on the internet. The musician’s voice is as emotive, delicate and haunting as the visual world they create. A self-proclaimed “audio-visual art witch”, Frank lives in East London but is originally from the Azores islands where they had a residency during in 2020 recording in a Baroque church with a local choir. On the release of their latest track, Thrown Stones, “a tantrum for toxic love”, Frank takes a moment to consider beauty, fantasy and making music
What is your idea of beauty?
My idea of beauty lies with memory, I actually think that as human beings this our super power. Memory is something that somehow makes us unique as a species. Perhaps the only other animal on earth with this ability are elephants, which makes them both incredibly compassionate and also dangerous creatures. Memory allows you to be honest with yourself without clutter or half-truths.
When did you start making music?
I briefly attended the conservatoire whilst growing up in Azores, between the ages of 10 and 14. I studied harpsichord which remains to this day my favourite instrument. I learned more about swearing in Italian than actual Baroque Music. I never really mastered the elegance of the technique. I do recall vividly my teacher telling me to imagine an egg in the palm of my hands with my fingers gently curved across the eggs side surfaces. Later in 2015, entering on my twenties, I picked up a £70 guitar from a pawn shop in Mare Street. It was the same place where I often exchanged my bartending cheques for cash. I started throwing some chords and I was never the same again. I gained a new life and a true excuse to be me, without the self-judgment that incurred all existential concerns in my life.
How did growing up in the Azores influence what you do?
Azorean people are undeniably given by birth a telluric condition. We understand how life behaves in a raw environment and how it can be rapidly taken, because we are only human. Azoreans have a deep connection with the wild landscape and we constantly feel Mother Nature's inherent superiority. Azores has entire villages built inside volcano craters, could you believe that? Imagine like you’re constantly sailing, only that you find yourself anchored in the middle of the sea.
What makes you happy?
Mostly being on stage and making my parents proud of me.
How important if fantasy to you?
Fantasy is perhaps the variable in the equation of writing the perfect song. As a songwriter most of us know that we will only write an handful of perfect songs in our life-time. It is only in rare moments of our lives that we know exactly how to describe “the how” and “why” we felt in a particular moment of our lives. Here fantasy plays a great role in the construction of narrative, play and plot. Fantasy is Metaphor but it’s also design. I truly believe the magic ingredient is definitely living a full life.
Frank Malachi documentary “Where Water Goes Life Will Follow” along with my first concept album “Loose Dog Loves” are released this year. His latest single Thrown Stones is out now.
interview FRANCESCA GAVIN
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