Waldo's Gift - Malcolm's Law Waldo's Gift

An electrifying new force in the new wave of UK Experimental music, Bristol trio Waldo’s Gift announce their debut album Malcolm's Law for release 24th January 2025 via their champions Ishmael Ensemble’s label Severn Songs. Following a string of early releases lauded by tastemakers across BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 1, Malcolm's Law captures the story of their unusual beginnings: the intense, bizarre weekly residency at Bristol’s Gallimaufry where they built a cult following.  

The announcement comes with the release of brash, technicolour lead single ‘Candifloss.’ “We wanted to write something really sickly sweet” claims drummer James Vine, who performs alongside bassist Harry Stoneham and guitarist Alun Elliot-Williams. The melody for ‘Candifloss’ emerged from an improvised performance (as all of their songs do) following the lockdowns, when it felt like something had changed within the band. “That was the first thing we banked for a potential album. We thought, how can we make this the newest, most exciting version of us possible?”. 

Malcolm's Law is a sizzling, maximalist, impossibly complex guitar record. While Waldo’s Gift have been associated with the UK jazz explosion, mainly owing to their focus on improvisation, there are shades here of prog-metal, math-rock, and the more intense ends of Squarepusher or Aphex Twin. “We Trojan-horse metal into jazz venues,” Vine laughs. Unbelievably, every track is a single live performance, recorded with no overdubs or extras. “We’ve tried to multi-track stuff, but it doesn’t sound like us,” he says. “To sound like us is to be a sweaty, chaotic mess, on the precipice of falling apart. We’re all on the limit of what we can physically play, and that’s where the fun comes from.”