Los Angeles-based musician, producer and visual artist Mal Not Bad has shared their new single ‘Dodgeball’ – the second taste of a new project due for release later this year.

Building upon the ambient sonic world where their previous EP, 2022’s ‘Continuous Short Feature Film’ left off, Mal Not Bad mines stunning new depth, incorporating more electronic influence, blending sampled drum beats with live ones, exploring a world that blends 4 on the floor, pulse-based music with live instrumentation.

Co-mixed by Mal Not Bad & John Lowell Anderson (Porches, Margaret Glaspy), mastered by James Krausse (Beyoncé) and self-produced by Mal Not Bad, ‘Dodgeball’ patiently builds with the use of trembling guitar motifs and fidgeting electronics as they muse on personal growth and inner battles [“I wanna give you everything that you need / I wanna love you with every breath I breathe”].

Of the new single, Mal Not Bad (they/them) said: “‘Dodgeball’ feels like an extension of the song and music video ‘Sports’ from the previous EP. Both songs/videos have a serious, darker tone in the lyrics that contrast with lighter, more playful visuals and song titles. At the time of writing ‘Dodgeball’ I was struggling to learn how to love myself – the concept of dodgeball felt fitting to express that struggle where you feel like you are working on yourself and want to grow / feel good but keep dodging the main parts of you that are inflicting pain (like self hate) which prevents the growth from happening. For ‘Dodgeball’ specifically, we discovered that the team captains could be thought of as two versions of the same person – the actual person themself and the part of them that hates. The teammates can be thought of the beautiful and uglier parts of you that you might develop and/or work on/with along the way.”

Visually, Mal Not Bad’s forthcoming project focuses a lot on movement, with the accompanying video for ‘Dodgeball’ co-directed with director of photography Seannie Bryan (Weyes Blood, Blondshell, Skullcrusher).