Pressing play on Malibu’s Vanities slips you into a slower pace. The first full-length project from French producer Barbara Braccini is filled with hymn-like vocals, droning synths, and stirring field recordings. In a world that constantly tugs at our attention spans, the album – like much ambient music – acts as a kind of crash pad.

“I am chronically online, like a lot of people,” Braccini tells Dazed. “Ten years ago, my computer was the most important thing in the world. I was almost dying if there was no Wi-Fi, or if a video was buffering.” Now, she admits, being online feels less organic, more compulsory. “It just feels quite overwhelming nowadays.” 

In a way, Vanities is the antidote to this sensation. The ten-track project isn’t a portal to some alien world, it’s more of a dimly lit side passage. “It feels like music that asks you to stop,” Braccini says. “I imagine it working when you’re driving somewhere with no destination, or sitting still, watching a city light up at dusk.” 

The album follows earlier ambient work under the Malibu alias (one of Braccini’s many ventures) such as Palaces of Pity (2022), an EP shaped by cycles of grief and repetition. With Vanities, however, Braccini bites down deeper, layering richer textures and sharper sounds. On tracks like “Nu” and “What Is It That Breaks” especially, her hymn-like vocals reverberate across synths, like a liturgy echoing between the beams of a weathered city cathedral. Awash with urban field recordings and tinged with a haunting warmth, Vanities could easily double as a soundtrack to an untitled short film.

Below, we talk to Malibu about how her relationship to music has shifted and the making of Vanities.

What was your relationship to music growing up?

Malibu: Both my parents are musicians, though it’s not their job. My dad plays piano, mostly jazz, and my mom is more into music theory. I grew up around music, but it was very limited. My dad only really liked jazz, and my mom was very strict and theory-driven.

For the longest time, I was just like, ‘I hate music.’ It felt like school and like a chore. So I was mostly just a listener. I watched a lot of MTV. I recorded music straight from the TV because LimeWire didn’t always work. I’d load MP3 players for people at school overnight and bring them to school the next morning.

Vanities is a very technical project. What was your experience like studying music?

Malibu: I went to a conservatory, but I hated it. I would only go because I had friends there. I didn’t care about it at all. The only thing I liked was when we all had to sing, because it was funny. They liked to take popular songs and remake them in a very theoretical way.

There’s something romantic in both Stockholm and LA. There’s a kind of loneliness in both cities

So what altered your relationship with music?

Malibu: After high school, I was studying cinema, and that’s when I met a lot of artsy people who would just jam and had synthesisers at home. I met a really good friend then, and we became very close. I was around 18 or 19. I would spend whole nights on a keyboard my dad lent me, with a Roland expander. You’d just plug in a MIDI keyboard and explore sounds. 

Where was the project recorded, and how did those locations influence the album?

Malibu: I used to live in Stockholm, in Sweden, so that’s where I worked on most of the music. But I was also travelling a lot during that time. I mixed the record in LA later, in April. So there’s a lot of that in it. It’s definitely LA-inspired, just from my time there. There’s something romantic in both Stockholm and LA – not in the same way, but there’s a kind of loneliness in both cities. In LA, you’re often just driving around alone. I think that feeling exists in both places.

When listening to Vanities, it feels very cinematic – what’s your relationship with film now?

Malibu: I love cinema, although my favourite films don’t necessarily have soundtracks. I really like listening to movies more than watching them – when there’s not much talking, just sound. I find that very satisfying. I actually love it when films don’t have music. I regularly work with a couple of directors. I’ve done one soundtrack for a short film and worked on voiceover. 

How did you go about sourcing and incorporating the project’s field recordings?

Malibu: It started when I was commissioned to make a sound piece for the John Giorno Foundation, connected to Dial-A-Poem. I wanted a setting. I found a field recording on Freesound. I rarely record sounds myself. I like not knowing where they were recorded. That recording had cars, distant sounds, maybe a dog barking. I recorded a poem over it. I liked that piece, and that’s when I wanted that feeling on the album.

What’s a standout Vanities track for you?

Malibu: I really like ‘Lactonic Crush’. It feels very sweet and more dynamic. I love the synth I recorded it on. I sampled myself, stretched it, and pitched it down. There’s also a short third part, plus field recordings and voiceover.

What’s up next for you? 

Malibu: I have upcoming shows and festivals. I haven’t had much time to think about them because I’ve been moving apartments so my mind is occupied with Leboncoin (a sort of French Gumtree). The sound is prepared, but the lighting isn’t. I don’t have a lot of means, so things take longer and require help from friends. But I’m excited.

Vanities is out now.