Plunge into Melati ESP’s dreamy, downtempo track ‘INTUISI’

Melati Malay aka Melati ESP bestows upon listeners a flurry of club breaks and airy pop sensibilities in her debut album ‘hipernatural’, released by Carpark Records.

The 12 tracks of the release evoke a comfortable, nostalgic feeling, heightened by her dreamy vocals that serves as its own versatile instrument, adding to the intimate compositions of chill beats. Each track also showcases Malay’s first foray into singing in the language of her youth — Indonesian.

Before relocating to New York, Malay grew up in the sprawling metropolis of Jakarta; a melting pot of ancient traditions and future technologies and a typical East-meets-West Asian megacity that exposes its citizens to a plethora of global and local sounds. Over the past decade, she's collaborated with the likes of U.K. trip-hop pioneer Tricky, U.S. cellist and composer Kelsey Lu, Kaifeng-born Vancouver-based producer Yu Su and innovative 70’s French composer Ariel Kalma.

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For ‘hipernatural’, she draws on the music era of her teenage years in Jakarta, which is a mix of Javanese radio dangdut, gamelan cassettes, Moving Shadow-era liquid jungle, Japanese chill-out and more. The result; a richly imagined hybrid synthetic utopia of sounds that highlights just how borderless musical experimentation can be.

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‘INTUISI’ is a track that perfectly highlights the artist’s sonic repertoire of bioluminescent strains that echo throughout the album. The warmth synths, embellished with a calming melody and Malay’s soulful singing come together to create a new age downtempo cut that’s both pensive and euphoric at the same time.

Watch the music video for ‘INTUISI below and purchase ‘hipernatural’ here.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.