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PREMIERE: Get ahead of your mates when it comes to 2016’s best music. Check out Malo Zima and start with White Blanket

Malo Zima have seemingly come out of nowhere, catching the music community unaware with their charming and spacious alt-rock. We say alt-rock, but such a huge and often distorted umbrella term doesn’t do this band justice. Neither does the equally imposing label of indie. With Amela Duheric’s gorgeous vocals taking the lead and meditative instrumentation, the band take their cues from Radiohead’s more mellow back catalogue with a touch of the spunky indie rock we all know and love. If you’re yet to jump on board the Malo Zima train, then this new video for their single White Blankets will soon have you in their clutches.

Malo Zima white blankets

Brisbane five-piece Malo Zima are quickly becoming one of the bands to keep an eye on in 2016. Not convinced? Let this live version of White Blankets do so.

The band released their debut EP Cornerstone at the end of October and are quickly gaining the favour of new fans across the country. They’ve been plugging away at that bad boy sporadically over the last 12 months. As the band say, they recorded in “bedrooms, large professional studios and an old abandoned post office. Each space came with it’s own unique challenges and forced new creative ideas out of the band, resulting in a range of interesting sounds“. With upcoming engineer Tristan Hoogland on production duties, those sounds have bloomed into something truly breathtaking.

Their lead single Til It’s Gone was a haunting affair, driven by a darkness similar to that of the fear of the dark for a child; a shapeless beast that’s always out of sight. It’s a primal track that does wonders for establishing the band. Which brings us to their new tune White Blankets. A lot of what we already love about the band is there, Duheric’s angelic vocals and the atmospheric take on alt-rock take over the senses. The slide guitar creeps through the track, graceful and without fuss.

It’s a winning combo that the band pull off particularly well in this live video. That sense of space they speak about in regards to the Cornerstone EP becomes apparent here. Though the band’s sound is somewhat the same (what band’s isn’t?), it’s the space each song occupies that gives Malo Zima a strong sense of versatility. A slow burner, White Blankets is a restless soul. Not an ounce of energy or movement is wasted by the band with their playing, every moment geared toward intensifying the experience.

The band will be supporting Fraser A. Gorman tomorrow night at Black Bear Lodge in their native Brisbane, so if you’re going to the show make sure to get down early.