Listen: Malpas – Charlemagne [Premiere]

Malpas came together in a dusty Birmingham attic, tweaking and tinkering away at minor-key folk songs before upping sticks to London and completing their densely textured sound with the addition of delicate twinkly electronics and liberal overdubs.

‘Charlemagne’ is the first track to emerge from Ali M Forbes and Andy Savour’s debut EP, Promise. Fusing the elegant, organic flow of traditional songwriting with spritely C86 vocals, programmed beats and 8-bit bleeps, Malpas pitch up somewhere in-between Zach Condon-grade rustic sample-folk and M83’s lolloping synthpop.

‘Charlemagne’s enchantingly looped oohs and aahs circulate about the hearty swells of, ‘when will you return to me?’ pulling the duo’s dreamy sonics back to reality with a mournful bump. Subtly moving stuff.

Promise is out on 23 September via Killing Moon.