Singer-Songwriter Mali is en route to achieving a status of indie music greatness over her last few releases and we’re all here for it! From Semi Automatic Butane’s bizarre but interesting story and engaging tunes to Anniku Raatri’s nostalgia-inspired Tamil-pop flavour, Mali is known for reinvention! With Dr Dust being her latest offering, Mali explores the dark realms of cults and the idea of control in our daily life. Mali gets candid with us about the making of this song, its captivating music video, meeting Ed Sheeran during his recent India tour and more!
Dr Dust plunges into a dark and compelling world of cults and control. What inspired that sparked this shift in your sonic and thematic landscape?
I got super curious about cults after watching a series of YouTube videos about cults and the ways they operate. I found something compelling about the survivor stories and how that level of control snuck up on people who realised they were being preyed on too late. I started to become aware of how these subtle forms of control exist in our everyday lives and that’s where the song was born from. I created the character of Dr Dust to embody people who present themselves as saviours and solutions while they take advantage of the vulnerable.
The idea of manipulation masking as care is chillingly relevant to today’s reality. Beyond the obvious examples of cults, in what ways do you see this theme playing out in the current social climate?
Corporations and governments having access to so much private information via the internet is a troubling scenario. This could be used to control people in an almost Big-Brother-like manner. Indian society can also be pretty restrictive in a way that our families and social circles play a big hand in our decision making, especially in the case of women. By relinquishing control even a little, a person can find themselves in a constant state of flux and that could result in a loss of self over time
The music video seems incredibly powerful. Can you share a particularly striking or memorable moment from the filming process, especially working with your fans in this context?
In the music video, we enact a scene where I am locked in a vertical coffin and burned to death by the cult members. We had only one shot to get it right as there were no duplicates of the box. Being on set with fire can be a bit risky and we were hoping to get through it without any accidents. The fire sequences were so much fun because we played music and danced around it, almost as if we were playing out a real-life ritual. For all the fans and friends who volunteered to be on set, I think this was a big highlight.
Sonically, Dr Dust departs from your signature vintage-pop warmth. What made this grittier soundscape and what new sonic palettes were you excited to explore
I am known to keep changing things up with my music because it keeps things interesting for me. Every now and then I release a song that is somewhat an outlier, either lyrically or musically and most often, it serves the song and its meaning. Dr Dust conceptually was a dark and mysterious song and so the production around it also had to embody that feeling. My producer Rohan Rajadhyaksha and I spent a lot of time choosing the right soundscapes and instrumentation that could make it equal parts gritty and soulful.
You opened for Ed Sheeran in Bengaluru recently! What was performing for the crowd like and did you get to have an interaction with him? Anything that stayed with you from it?
This was hands down the biggest audience I’d performed to and it was surreal. I am thrilled to say I made some new fans and spread my music a little wider because of it. My interaction with him was short and meaningful and it was great to see a humble artiste behind the world-famous artistry and music.