By Tilsen Mulalley
Released February 14th, 2025, Mallrat’s latest album, Light Hit My Face Like a Straight Right is aptly titled. Also known as Grace Shaw, Mallrat has attempted to filter sunlight through a mixer and some slick production, serving refined juice straight to our ear canals. The result is a sonically warm, ethereal half-hour of pop that would be at home on any coming-of-age summer blockbuster’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, there is a little too much pulp at the bottom of the glass.
The cinematic nature is detrimental at times. Light Hit My Face Like a Straight. Right screams for visual accompaniment. Listening to the album on its own feels as though something is inherently missing from the experience. It is woefully unexciting at times; the first track, My Darling My Angel,” feels like a less popular Ellie Goulding melody, and Pavement carries that same energy. Shaw tends to lay the auto-tune on a little thick, and while the breakbeat is driving and forces a shoulder-shimmy without trying, the word ‘recycled' keeps coming to my mind as I listen. It doesn’t feel stale, but there are times when the sound blends into the generic mass of pop music that is available to the masses.
However, the album did grab my attention positively in more than one instance. Something for Somebody washes over your ears like a warm summer evening, and Defibrillator displays poignant songwriting and inlays some beautiful guitar work that adds welcome organic layers to the overall soundscape of the album.
The standout track of Light Hit My Face Like a Straight Right for me is the final song, Horses. Departing from the framework of the rest of the album, Horses is a delightfully acoustic and decidedly vulnerable conclusion. It is the type of track that punctuates the drive home in the purple dusk of a late summer day. Appropriate, as that is the exact image the entirety of this album evokes.
Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right has more than its fair share of weak points. It feels confused at times, like a bundle of ideas thrown at the wall as Shaw tries to figure out what works. Mostly, it just lacks the euphoric oomph of Mallrat’s previous effort, 2022’s pop masterpiece Butterfly Blue.
That being said, the album is still held together by strong production and several stand-out tracks. As we approach warmer days, I’d recommend queuing it up to dramatize those upcoming summer drives.
Mallrat embarks on a North American tour in April 2025.
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