“A Celebration of the Darkness Within”: Mulay Dives into Her Alluring Debut EP ‘ANTRACYTE’

A “celebration of the darkness within,” Mulay’s debut EP ‘ANTRACYTE’ dwells in the passionate throes of the heart and soul with a hot wash of tender and intimately enveloping songs.

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Stream: “MEDUSA” – Mulay

A smoldering R&B indulgence, Mulay’s debut EP aches in all the right ways – compelling listeners to dive into themselves as the artist explores the nether reaches of her own being. A “celebration of the darkness within,” Mulay’s therapeutic ANTRACYTE EP dwells in the passionate throes of the heart and soul with a hot wash of tender and intimately enveloping songs.

Lately I’ve been losing myself
Long ago that I’ve been sleepin’
‘Cause I’ve been bleeding tryin’ to bye myself free
And lately I’ve sold my soul to
Try out how far I could go
Make me forget who I used to be
And lately I’ve been losing consciousness
Four minutes of happiness
I gave a fuck about the rest
But is it something I need?
Is that really me? Mh, no

And I turn into stone
Slowly I feel we lost a boy
I turn into stone
Til everything’s hard, slick, and cold
And you’re choking from this silence
The distance between us both
And while the air thickens
I wish you were minе

Released January 29, 2021 via Groenland Records, ANTRACYTE burns with a bright intensity as inner turbulence pours out in stunning style. The five-track debut from Belgian R&B artist Mulay arrives on the heals of pre-release singles “Shame,” “Medusa,” and “Antracyte” – each of which put the artist’s expressive voice and visceral lyrical talent on full display. Rounding itself out with the songs “Phoenix” and heartbreaking closer “Psychopth,” ANTRACYTE serves as an evocative, defining introduction to a singer and songwriter driven by substance and inspired by emotion.

“The whole EP is about challenging the idea of right and wrong, about broadening the spectrum between black and white,” Mulay tells Atwood Magazine. “We’re all human, we’re all imperfect, and that makes us who we are. It’s a celebration of the darkness within, the corners and edges of our soul.”

From the rich harmonies and slow burn of the opening title track, to the seductive synths that cascade around dreamy, hot-on-the-mic vocals in “Medusa,” Mulay ensures that her debut is as unforgettable as it is utterly absorptive: A record that gives upon every listen. The artist’s songs dig deep into lived moments and past feelings, acting as a sort of realtime therapy bursting with intimate nuance.

“Writing is my therapy and in expressing myself, I translate raw, real, and often complicated emotion into art in as many dimensions as possible; film, music, movement and live performance,” Mulay explains. “I want to create an alternate world that takes people on a journey through the depths of my mind, one that will end up serving as a surface for people on the outside to reflect upon themselves.”

Through her intoxicating music and gorgeous accompanying videos, Mulay has made her way into our conscious, where she will now forever stay. An exciting fresh face on the R&B scene, her art is unapologetically intense and uncompromisingly true to the self. Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Mulay’s ANTRACYTE EP with Atwood Magazine as the artist goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her debut EP!

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:: stream/purchase ANTRACYTE here ::

Stream: ‘ANTRACYTE’ – Mulay

:: Inside ANTRACYTE ::

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ANTRACYTE

ANTRACYTE is the intro and title track to my debut EP. It’s the soundtrack to the birth of a villain and captures the moment of complete honesty to yourself about the awareness of doing wrong by the ones your love while feeling the inability to turn around.

It’s about the desire to taste forbidden fruits, to cross and explore what lies beyond the line and the self-empowering feeling of playing by your own rules defeating the fear of consequences and the power of moral concepts. ANTRACYTE tells a story of contradicting emotions, a story of love, lust, pain and a longing for more. It’s about facing your own darkness and sins, about self-revelation, emancipation and about paying its price, resigning to your fate.

PHOENIX

Every end is a new beginning and so are the Songs ANTRACYTE and PHOENIX each other’s beginning and end, as well as the beginning and end to the story as a whole.

PHOENIX was written in retrospect of the story told in the EP ANTRACYTE and is about the realization that good and bad experiences are of equal value and closely connected to one another, that sometimes we need to crash, to lose ourselves or “to burn” for a chance to redefine who we are and to become the person we’re meant to be. It’s a reminder that often it’s the mistakes we make and the darkness we survive that grant us the ability to grow, to truly get to know ourselves and to rise above. Like a phoenix rises from the ashes. 

MEDUSA

Medusa is a figure mostly referred to as a monster while not many people know her story. She was punished and abandoned by the ones she trusted and ended up living in a narrative forced upon her. Embodying monster and victim at the same time.

When I wrote MEDUSA I was in a very dark place. I betrayed and hurt someone I loved and was confronted with the consequences of my actions. I experienced rejection, hate, condemnation and was haunted by guilt, self-hate and self-doubt. Longing to numb the pain I went down a path of self-destruction until I did not feel anything anymore. I gave up on myself, while at the same time, deep within, there seemed to be a silent sparkle of hope that my reckless behavior would evoke someone’s attention, provoke his silence to be broken. A desperate cry for a sign that someone still cared. A dangerous bet, I went all in for.

MEDUSA was one of the first songs I wrote and one of the first experiences of my subconsciousness completely taking over my creative process. It helped me understand what was really going on inside of me at that time and it allowed me to process a very dark period in my life.

I carry this song with me for a long time now and it went through several stages of my artistic development until I finally felt like it reached its rightful form and context with the version you hear today. It’s like I’m finally giving birth to child that I’ve carried around for almost 7 years. But I’m glad that I allowed myself and the song to go through this long process of growth and healing, as it lead me to where and who I am today.

SHAME

The track “SHAME” captures a conversation with myself, facing my own reflection, that leads to a moment of realization that beating myself down doesn’t help anyone and that there is no gain in self-hate and self-destruction. It’s a reminder to not judge myself too harshly and to be myself a better friend, which I’m still in the process of learning.

It’s a self-confrontation striving for self-acceptance. An inner voice that encourages you to embrace who you are, to walk your own path with pride instead of constantly trying to meet other people’s expectations or hiding parts of you away in order to receive their confirmation. A dare to love yourself in all your dimensions.

PSYCHOPATH

PSYCHOPATH is about the longing to be loved and about the inner conflict between loving someone against one’s better judgement and the deeply rooted instinct of self-preservation. I wrote it after visiting a friend in London who shared her heartbreak with me, inspired by her words and out of support for her.

To me, the song PSYCHOPATH expresses the beauty of vulnerability and deals with the duality of emotions, the fact that we can feel contradicting things at the same time. I love that it seems like quite a sad song at first as it’s written from such a fragile perspective, but then the psychopath line hits and it makes you smile, as it’s unexpectedly harsh and a little bit funny as well I think. It’s a very honest emotional ride.

An intimate song, created in an intimate production process. I recorded every single sound you hear in the track at home, Kaspar Föhres on piano and Jascha Wonerow on guitar, two artists and friends I’ve worked closely with in the past and I fooled around with effects, turning matches and other objects into percussive or atmospheric elements. The whole process felt like creating a painting, some brush strokes here, some brush strokes there. No wrong or right, just a feeling, an internal certainty.

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:: stream/purchase ANTRACYTE here ::

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