Katie Malco's New Single "When You’re Asleep" Featuring Mui Zyu
Following a year of UK and US touring with Julien Baker, SOAK, and Advance Base — including a sold-out London headline show at Moth Club — British alt-rock/indie singer-songwriter Katie Malco (they/she) returns with their highly anticipated new single, “When You’re Sleeping”, featuring fellow Brit, by way of Hong Kong, mui zyu. A fan favorite, the track quickly became Malco’s most requested song on tour, with audiences already singing every word before its official release.
Talking about the single, Malco said, “Have you ever broken up with someone, but you have to carry on living together for a while? I think it’s a pretty relatable experience in the current climate, when you cohabit with someone, you might not be able to move out straight away. So, then you just have to change your entire dynamic with your now-ex and figure out how to be around each other in uncomfortably close quarters, with all this unbearable tension.
I wrote ‘When You’re Sleeping’ from the perspective of the person that ends the relationship. We’re so used to hearing songs from the viewpoint of the heartbroken one, the perceived ‘victim’ – and it’s rarer to hear from the person who makes that difficult life-changing decision.”
Acclaimed artist mui zyu (Father/Daughter Records) features in both the video and on the track. “I had been following mui zyu’s musical output for a while, and I knew her voice would be perfect for what I was going for with this song,” says Malco. “Not only did she sing vocals and some beautiful harmonies, but she also sent stems with all these dark atmospheric sounds she recorded using a hologram chroma console, which really placed the whole song in her world. I love how it turned out.”
The track is released alongside a tongue-in-cheek, yet morose music video, centered around Malco playing a dead body. “It’s really a metaphor for the point at which one person mentally checks out of a long-term relationship, yet they’re still present in body only” says Malco. “Then the twist is, it was the partner that killed them! Again, a metaphor for when one partner is consistently trying to change the other and ultimately pushing them away.”
“We filmed the video in one house, all in just one day – and by the time we got to filming the birthday party scene and I was made to wear that hideous dress and a party hat, it was a real struggle to pretend to be dead because the absurdity of this video concept was suddenly revealing itself to me.”
