Six months into the pandemic, three-fourths of art-rock four-piece Mamalarky plunged into a new experiment: they moved in together. Guitarist-vocalist Livvy Bennett and keyboardist Michael Hunter drove across the country, decamping from Los Angeles to bassist Noor Khan’s hometown, Atlanta. In September 2020, the trio rented a giant old house with vaulted ceilings, a tire swing, and a bare-bones little studio room. There, the band made its largely home-recorded sophomore full-length, Pocket Fantasy, due September 30 via Fire Talk.
When they needed breaks, the group would take walks to a nearby creek, surrounded by tall trees and a cacophony of birds. On a particularly sublime day of swimming, Bennett and Khan soaked in the sun, watched the light refract the water, and time stood still—a blissed-out moment captured in the pure joy of “Mythical Bonds,” an ode to friendship told through playful grooves and zigzag riffs.
Today, the band are sharing “Mythical Bonds,” alongside a video directed by Ambar Navarro (Soccer Mommy, Cuco, Moaning), to announce their new LP.
“I really needed to write something to accurately show Noor how much her friendship means to me, and our journey as musicians and friends,” Bennett reflects. “We need more songs about friendship. In peak album-making mode we were churning out songs, at times to the point of delirium. So we decided to shake ourselves loose and make this serotonin rock song about how much we love each other–to push past all those hunched-over studio hours and create this little summer memento. At the time we were having a lot of pond, lake and pool-side hangs, laughter under the beating heat. At the end of those days all we wanted to do was come home and synthesize those feelings in our studio.”
Tour Dates
9.29 – Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
9.30 – San Diego – Public Square
10.1 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room
10.2 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
10.4 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
10.6 – Sacramento, CA – The Starlet Room
10.7 – Reno, NV – Off Beat Music Festival
10.9 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall
10.10 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project
10.13 – Fort Colins, CO – The Coast
10.14 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
11.1 – Asheville, NC – Static Age
11.2 – Nashville, TN – DRKMTTR
11.3. – Richmond, VA – Get Tight
11.4 – Washington, DC – Comet Ping Pong
11.5 – Philadelphia, PA – Silk City
11.6 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
11.7 – Boston, MA – O’Briens
11.8 – Montreal, QC – Brasserie Beaubien
11.9 – Toronto, ON – The Baby G
11.11 – Fort Wayne, IN – The Brass Rail
11.12 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
11.13 – St. Louis, MO – the Sinkhole
11.15 – Athens, GA – Flicker Bar
11.16 – Atlanta, GA – 529
#mamalarky
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