Malthus
Playing the piano from a young age and then delving into composing his own sounds; the artist found an all-consuming passion within his craft. “If i don’t get enough time making music each day, I will curl up and die”. Malthus has performed alongside Rhye and recently at a sold out show in London.
Describe your music in three words.
Choral cataclysmic blues.
How did you get into music?
I sold my body to sound when I was an infant. My mum was a piano teacher and I think young me was pretty envious of her other students who could play better than me. After a few years learning, composing became a habit and, after a few more, it definitely spiralled into a pretty blunt obsession.
I was never super social growing up, and to be honest i’ve always been more comfortable on stage than off. I skipped a silly amount of my sixth form and university classes to teach myself how to produce, and i would always spend my spare time locked away in a practice room. It was very much a “if I don’t get enough time making music each day i will curl up and die” situation. Tbh it’s still that way now.
My intention was always to write music for film. I used to listen to Thomas Newman’s score for american beauty on repeat, and fantasise about the kind of shit i’d write. I started picking up strings and pretty much anything else I could get my hands on – usually old, broken pianos, dusty synthesisers and cheap microphones – and I would make something from it. I was partying a lot at the time and everything i was making had a soft industrialism about it – any inspiration I had for creating film scores was coming directly out of a run-down warehouse rave in Manchester. Betsy Johnson listened to some of my stuff and then asked me if I’d write the score for the campaign film she was making while she was acting creative director at the ragged priest. From there, I moved to London with one bag and £30 to my name and just started composing for any project I fucked with.
The music I was writing for myself was never really intended to be released. Even last year, playing with Rhye, I shelved the music I was making at home and just went out on stage and improvised. It was like that for most of the shows I played. I think currently being in London ,around so many astoundingly talented creative minds, has me geared up. Scoring visuals was music in its entirety for me for such a long time, but now it’s like there is this whole other avenue to explore as a performer. even visually, the move from writing for other people’s visuals to directing my own visuals feels natural. I have some amazing people around me right now that are definitely bringing out the best in me.
Tell us about your new single “SEW ME TO YOU”
Sew me to you was written about a very turbulent time in my adolescence when i had nowhere to live and i kept staying with this awful guy so that i didn’t end up on the streets. I didn’t want to fuck about with the lyrics – i tell that story pretty bluntly. Listening back, the vocals sound like a choir of demon cherubs singing lyrics to me about a time in my life that feels so alien to me now.
Sonically, it’s this drawn out atonal orchestral piece that tries to serve up the mood of the lyrics. It has this almost false sense of grandness about it that I think draws on the time in my life that revolved around the industrial town I grew up in – it’s as if it’s trying to be this structured, melodic pop song but instead it comes out as this dread-ridden tale of seduction. Tbh it makes me a little uncomfortable to listen to now, but it felt like the right story to tell first.
What inspires you to make music?
Violence.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Lafawndah, ale hop, holly herndon, fire! orchestra and, weirdly, Miley Cyrus. She’s pretty off-brand for me but that Ronson Collab is hot.
What has been your most memorable performance to date?
Our sold out show with project syntrex and magnus westwell in london last month. It was my first time playing in the city and it was surreal.
What can we expect from MALTHUS in the future?
Most likely a very public nervous breakdown! xxxx
courtesy MALTHUS
photography BETSY JOHNSON @betsyjohnson_
makeup GRACE ELLINGTON @gracemariaellington
interview CASSANDRA SPEIDEL
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