Mal Blum Nobody Waits B/W San Cristobal Vinyl

Once dubbed “punk’s greatest hidden treasure” by Stereogum, Mal Blum writes cleverly crafted songs that are as self-effacing as they are viscerally relatable. Following on from 2019’s Pity Boy LP, a brand new 7", to be released via Saddle Creek’s Document Series, is the last thing they recorded with their band before hunkering down to wait out the pandemic.

Recorded in drummer Ricardo Lagomasino’s basement in Maine, months before coronavirus was a word in our collective periphery, these two new songs are embellished by the band’s time there. In between takes, Barrett padded the hardwood in his slippers. Audrey fixed herself lunch in the kitchen. Ricardo’s wife, Meg, was pregnant at the time but she said she didn’t mind the noise that drifted up to the living room. The house felt brimming with possibility.