Mahalia - Isolation Tapes (EP)

2019 found the UK's latest sensation Mahalia offering her major label debut "Love and Compromise," a stark & striking introduction to a youthfully exuberant new talent. Ready to take on the world and maneuver the tricky waters of love and the compromises we make for it. On the fittingly titled "Isolation Tapes," Mahalia reaches back into her past life to reveal feelings & stories she never thought but felt the need to share & what a perfect time to do so & in concisely sweet fashion nonetheless.

"BRB" is hiraeth at its finest, who amongst us hasn't longed for home, family, our significant other who, in this case, Mahalia is expressing feelings she knows he too must be feeling. At the same time, "Plastic Plants" is hip-swaying naivety, poetry in motion, an ode to authentic intimacy rather than fake love where "Too Nice" recalls flirtatious desperation & teenage adolescence over instrumentation reminiscent of the late '90s to early 2000's grooves.

Three records are running only 10 minutes long, and she manages to pull on and lightly strum our heartstrings more than most full-length R&B records I've come across. As long as Mahalia continues cranking out these stories & evoking those emotions, she's going to be up there with the likes of her two most significant influences.