Perth solo artist Odin Malchik is cooking up a unique serving of psychedelic Bedroom Pop bursting with brilliance and bound to catapult him towards a massive audience. His new single ‘The Hard Way’ builds on this year’s self-titled EP, resulting in a sound that is both refreshingly new and warmly familiar.
Malchik’s self-professed influences are a checklist of psych-pop trailblazers of the past and present: The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, to name a few. Mixed in with that is an undeniable homage to the mid-90s ‘Britpop’ of Blur and Pulp.
But just as we have seen with previous singles ‘Put Me In’ and ‘Drinking In The Sun’, ‘The Hard Way’ shows that Odin Malchik isn’t here to simply retread the history of British music the way so many Aussie bands have in the past few years.
The layers of jangly guitars paint a sunny portrait to contrast lyrics of a complicated relationship seen in lines like:
“I’m just a noise that helps you sleep / It makes no sense / It takes two”
Laid over the top are dreamy synth tones that transport you to a world far away from the DIY ‘studio’ (read: bedroom) where it was recorded.
Despite the complex, swirling layers of instruments, ‘The Hard Way’ never loses sight of what makes it special: a mighty fine hook. It seems that already Malchik has mastered the art of writing lines that will stick in your head, exactly what so many of his influences are renowned for.
The song is complex yet catchy, youthful yet mature, retro yet modern. Despite taking its cues from the ‘60s and the ‘90s, Malchik’s work is another great example of the recent rise of ‘Lo-Fi Bedroom Pop’ aided by websites like Bandcamp and YouTube. But ‘The Hard Way’, and Malchik’s work on a whole, is so much more than the sum of its styles and influences.
Don’t let the fact that he is letting people name their price for his music on Bandcamp give you the wrong idea. ‘The Hard Way’ shows Odin Malchik as a force to be reckoned with, and the best is yet to come. Before you know it, his music will be the soundtrack of your summer.
Follow Odin Malchik on Soundcloud or Facebook.
Image credit Ryan O’Callaghan
