Balance & Compromise with Shy One
We like eclecticism at Moon Roq. That, along with deep chats with nice people. Mali Larrington-Nelson, or Shy One as we know her, has been DJing since the age of 13 years old. So, it’s no surprise to read that you’ll find few better versed in the craft. Musically, she straddles a wider range of styles and sounds many that claim the “eclectic” title. Undeterred by those in the scene who initially called her beats “weird”, she has meshed together a broad range of influences into a sound which famously eventually caught the ear of Scratcha DVA. Since those early releases, Shy One has continued to grow as an artist and her recent Beats In Space mix and her regular Balamii radio slots are essential listening for those that like variety. Yeah, things do get weird. But that’s what we like. Listen as you read with our selected tracks or select a mix from Shy One’s Soundcloud below:
So, Moon Roq first noticed Shy One way back in 2016 when you had your first Boiler Room, is that sort of when things really started to move forward for you?
Yeah, it’s funny, because that feels so late on. Late in my musical life. But it was actually the point where people took a bit more notice. I’ve always been there, but that was the moment, just because it was on a big enough platform, it finally managed to catch the ears of a significant amount of people enough to get bookers.
But there had been a lot of work before that?
Yeah, a lot.. I’d been DJing already for like 13 years and making beats for 12 years.
I’ve read that you have quite a patient approach when it comes to putting music out. Is that just the way you like to do things, or is taking it slow a conscious thing?
No, it was never an intentional thing. Another reason things started to get somewhere from that Boiler Room set onwards was the my mindset changed around then. I just stopped being as self-conscious about my tunes. I was just finally like “alright, enough of these people like it, let me stop sitting on these things”. I was basically just taking a shit load of time to finish tunes because, I never thought they’d be good enough. The most ridiculous thing is that if something came to me too easily, like if I could make a beat and it sounded good to me, I wouldn’t trust it. I found out through some of my remix work, the stuff that got the best reception was the stuff that I made in one day or where I went with the first idea. It took me finally having a bit of self-belief in my music.
It’s something that I’ve heard a lot whilst chatting to producers and musicians, that when you’re in the early stages of writing a song, you kinda want to move quickly. You don’t want to dwell too much in the details of what you’re doing and just try to get the idea out as quickly as possible.
I think now that’s something I’m trying to relate to. I wan to focus on the energy that’s in that first sesh. I think I just drag a tune out, and the longer I do the less connected I am with that original energy or vibe that was there. I am consciously trying to not do that now.
So when you first sit down at a computer, what’s the first steps that you take?
It depends what it is. With a remix, I just want to take the most interesting parts of the song stems, usually an acappella, maybe some keys or something, and I always want to chop it up. So I always come with that hip-hop sampling approach. It’s like, let’s see what I can do with some of the bits here. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. I’m going to add most of the bits, but I wanna take the four corners from the original picture.
What about if you don’t have any material? Perhaps if we go back to before you even reach a computer, do you find melodies or ideas popping into your mind?
Oh yeah, if we’re talking my own original productions. This was a thing, a bit more when I was younger. And I can say that because I’ve been making beats since I was 14.
Playing around with the old Fruity Loops?
Yeah, it was like Fruity Loops 5 or 3, when I first started. I used to beatbox or hum into my phone if a melody came to mind. Then I’d make a little loop. Usually it would have the drums in it aswell. I’d just beatbox a little loop. And now, that happens occasionally, but to be honest, I think it’s due to my mental health why that’s changed over the years. It’s interesting to see the difference because I started producing as a young teen before I was drinking, smoking, before I became an adult.
And then real life arrived.
Yeah, and then adult life arrived, I went to uni, and my mental health has pretty much deteriorated over the course of my career and becoming an adult. I’ve been on anti-depressants for the last six years. People say that they suppress your creativity. My brain is just a whole different chemical make-up to what it was when I started this.
But at the same time, there has been some confidence and musical self-belief that has gotten a bit stronger in recent years?
Yeah, around 2014, that was just me realising that life can be shit and short. I can’t waste any more time. Music is the only way that I can communicate or express how I feel in some sort of real way. It made me feel like I have to get this music off my chest, or a long life just doesn’t really feel too realistic. I know that’s kinda morbid but.
Well, that’s really honest and I think a lot of people can relate to that. I can relate to that, maybe not that exactly but definitely struggling in adult life. Does your song writing offer some kind of escapism? Or is it more that you use it as a vehicle to get “stuff” out?
When I was younger, it was 100% escapism. I was literally just making beats as a teenager. I had much better concentration back then. And I would love to say that it was escapism now, but I just can’t sit down for long enough for it to be that, now. Like, I don’t sit down and I’m just like “right, I’ve had a rough week, I need to get it off my chest and make a beat.” I have to be in the right frame of mind. This year, I’ve had so many things happen that just rendered me incapable of writing. I need to express myself, but it has to be at the right time, and I can’t force it
I guess those things need time, for you to digest them and make sense of them.
Sometimes I think the song-writing really helps process things. It’s almost meditation.
What do you like to do, outside of music, to relax?
Pretty much just drink and smoke weed. I have a bubble bath most days. Or a walk in the park. But that’s basically my only sober relaxation.
What about any other stimulations? Psychedelics perhaps?
I had acid for the first time 3 years ago. It was literally the best day of my life. It was a game changer. We dropped the acid at 1am on a bus in Sidenham. I was like really in it by 3am.
That’s ballsy! On a bus at 1am?
Yeah! By 10am was walking to do an interview with Bandcamp. I wasn’t like tripping tripping by then, but there was still some things going on. But recently in the lockdown, one of the things that’s been getting me through has been liquid shrooms. The little tinctures.
What sort of music do you like to listen to in that setting?
There’s not like a particular kind, it’s quite nice to just let the music be on in the background on shuffle. I have a playlist on my iTunes called “wow acid amazing” and it’s from that first night I took acid. I left my iTunes on shuffle and I was hearing certain tunes that I’d always skipped over and hearing them in a new way being like “this is sick!”. That’s usually the vibe. It’s not a go to thing. I haven’t purposefully like sat down to make music on acid either. I find there’s a nice balance. If I smoke a spliff, have a little lie down for half an hour and then go to sit at the computer. It has to like, settle in. I don’t smoke when I’m actually writing or when I’m DJing.
[At this point, I suddenly whipped out a dictionary.] “Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject”. How do you feel about that?
It’s not something I think about really, or at least not with that language or that label to it. I’d have to say a bit about how I came a bit of an eclectic selector, because I wasn’t before. There was actually a time where I consciously tried not to be that. I didn’t really realise that’s what I was doing before. I started collecting and playing grime, then I really learned how to mix with hip hop and R&B, got into dubstep. I was a DJ under a different name whilst at University. I used to be the DJ that basically played dancehall. So I’ve had many different lives as a DJ, and I’m into so many different genres. I was raised on UK Garage and Neo Soul and my mum put me onto broken beat, and I realised that other people didn’t play like that. I thought, “you have to narrow it down a bit”. So I tried to do that for a couple of years but it wasn’t working and kinda felt wrong, restricting myself like that. It was basically me just being true to myself when I started being eclectic. All of these sounds are what I listen to every day, they’re the sounds that inspire my music, and all the different elements I try to incorporate into a track. All of this is me, it makes up me. So I feel like I have to play that way.
At that point, you decided to just be yourself. When you’re DJing, how do you decide what to do next, when you’re lifting from such different sounds and styles and rhythms?
Well, definitely it’s about reading the crowd. You just get a vibe off them, whether or not I can take it to a different place. I know I can take it to another sub-genre or style or whatever but it’s just about which one. I think broken beat is the one I won’t draw for as readily, just because not everyone can vibe with them drum patterns. If I’ve been on a bit of a soulful vibe for a while I might try something a bit more stripped back. I’m just really mindful of doing something, not for everyone, but dip into a few areas and kind of demonstrate them and showcase them.
I really like DJs that do that. It keeps things interesting. Sometimes you want to stick around just to see where things are going to go next.
Yeah, I’m just really trying to create a balance. A huge fear of mine is that I bore the crowd, and I feel like playing too much of one thing is just going to be boring. I’d find it boring! A balance and a journey. But really, it’s hard to think about this without thinking about a crowd in front. It really is about them. Looking at their faces, figuring out how old they might be.
Looking at the way they move their shoulders or their hips and being like “you’re probably going to like something like this”
No for real! That or their energy or their level of intoxication, also whether or not they going to be open to be educated a bit or they’re gonna want it a bit safer.
So, say two friends come to the front of the dancefloor, right in front of your DJ booth. And for some reason, you kinda get a “these guys are on shrooms right now” vibe off them. Somehow. Where do you think you’d take them?
Well, what am I currently playing?
Let’s say you’re in a slightly more soulful sort of sound, at that point.
You know what, they’re on shrooms, I’ve got the tune. Maybe KEARL which is K15 and Earl Jeffers and they put out a wicked track called “Take Flight” which is on the Melange Bandcamp. I say that because it really goes on a journey. It’s gonna be beautiful for someone on shrooms, they’re gonna have they’re eyes closed. But still keep them and everyone else grounded with a four-four. Can’t be pandering to them too much. It’s balance. And compromise. It’s all just balance and compromise.
B&W photographs provided by A. Holsborough. Colour photograph provided by S. Pena. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article or any other with us - don't hesitate to get in touch.