- Irresistible edits from the producer otherwise known as Malibu.
- dj lostboi's online presence might lead you to believe that the artist is a child (or several vaguely similar looking children), but it's actually an alias of Malibu, an ambient producer who emerged in 2019 from relative obscurity with the disarmingly beautiful mini-LP, One Life. Much of Malibu's music as dj lostboi is built around pop music samples that are ensconced in reverb and delay to the point that the source material becomes unidentifiable, even to the artist herself. Under a list of sample credits including Charli XCX and Nelly Furtado, she writes: "If you recognize a sample let me know, I made these tracks a while ago and forgot."
As lostboi, the French artist fixates on miniscule elements of other artists' music. "I could like a song just because of one tiny sound in the background, how one word is sung... Anything that I could loop forever is important," she told Shape in 2018. On "PET SHOP B" she takes synth chords from an old Nelly Furtado song and transforms them into a luxurious ocean of sound, somehow made more otherworldly by the sound of a revving car engine. While Malibu's tracks often incorporate symbols of nature, notably the sound of rolling waves, as lostboi she prefers the sound of traffic or vibrating phones, finding serenity in the background hum of contemporary urban life. Though they seem to stretch infinitely into the distance, lostboi's loops and textures aren't static, instead punctuated by moments of drama. Take the deep bass washes halfway through "ESPRIT SE," which suddenly transform the track's harmonic meaning and emotional weight.
As referential and even wryly humorous as lostboi's music and accompanying melancholic child avatar might seem, UNTITLED is strikingly sincere in terms of how it makes you feel. It's also unpretentiously addictive to listen to—"ALL THE CLOUDS DISTURBED" is one of the catchiest ambient tracks I've ever heard—which aligns dj lostboi with the pop artists whose work she samples. Ambient music rarely sounds this anthemic.
Tracklist01. LAST CALL
02. ESPRIT SE
03. ALL THE CLOUDS DISTURBED
04. WIDE EYED
05. EVENINGS IN BELAS
06. PET SHOP B