Have you ever found yourself wanting a sound that’s fresh and new? Tracks like these seem harder and harder to come by, but luckily they’re still out there. A recent track that does a great job at offering such a sound is Malcolm Little’s debut single ‘Hold Back.’ This track is so so interesting. It creates a captivating soundscape that pulls you right in and wraps you up. It’s calming and throws in the perfect dash of melancholy. Stereo movement is used to dynamically pull you straight into the atmosphere, and the creative production solidifies the originality of it all. This is a wonderful debut that solidifies Malcolm Little as an up-and-coming artist.
‘Hold Back’ delivers an energy that’s nothing short of ominous and entrancing. It builds a somber dreamy atmosphere that’s both calming and introspective. The vocal filter adds a lot of originality to the track. It sounds like vocals on some lo-fi tracks, but this is one of the few cases when it gets the foreground. And it’s done so well. It adds to the dark atmosphere and offers up something that’s fresh and new. It also does a great job at contrasting and bringing out the brighter tones of the synths. The way stereo is used in the synths and percussion does a great job at encapsulating whoever’s listening in a cinematic way. ‘Hold Back’ overall builds itself into the perfect somber atmospheric track.
Malcolm Little himself has described the lyrics of ‘Hold Back’ as being about a toxic relationship. The lyrics seem to tell a poetic tale of betrayal and heartbreak. “Don’t you think you’ve said enough / You know you went behind my back,” the lyricism rings out. It also adds some contrast with lyrics about the lover being the only one the voice of the song needs. They state that “It feels right.” It captures a tale of a deep love shattered, and the toxicity of that relationship pulling you back despite having the will to move forward. The lyrical contrast really builds onto this message and adds to the introspective nature of ‘Hold Back.’
Malcolm Little is a new up-and-coming producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Arizona. ‘Hold Back’ marks a truly interesting and original debut single that preludes an entrancing discography. This single was produced by Malcolm on his own in a college dorm room with his friend Anastasia on audio engineering. He really made do with the resources he had and his musical history to create an extremely cleanly produced single. Malcolm played piano and picked up songwriting in high school, taking time to truly sharpen his musical abilities. This effort all paid off in the creation of ‘Hold Back.’ This is such a phenomenal start to what’s hopefully a long and vibrant musical journey ahead for Malcolm.
Written by Sage Plapp
