One Life by Malibu

One Life

Malibu

2019
2.89
Rating
169
Votes
1
10%
2
23%
3
38%
4
24%
5
4%
Distribution

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Album Summary

Malibu is a French electronic musician whose work sails between ambient and ethereal. Forever inspired by soft reverbed vocals and melodic chord progressions, Malibu’s sound is immersive, like a sea of synthetic strings and choirs. Every month she tackles the same ideas in her radio show United In Flames, with the help of various guests. “One Life” is Malibu’s first EP and most matured work, released in November 2019 on both Joyful Noise Recordings and UNO NYC. ‘It might just be, as it was for Barwick, the most beautiful music you’ve ever heard. The gorgeousness of it is almost overwhelming‘ – Pitchfork ‘On the startling title track, cellist Oliver Coates meets Malibu’s floating drones with heart-wrenching cinematic strings and the result is as magical and mysterious as any fairytale. This one’s for the crybabies.’ – FACT ‘In just five tracks and 28 minutes, Malibu has delivered the best ambient record of 2019.’ – Discogs One Life was one of the best albums of 2019 according to Pitchfork, FACT, Discogs & Gorilla vs Bear. source: https://earth-agency.com/artist/malibu/

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Reviews

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Rating: All 5★ 4★ 3★ 2★ 1★
Length: All Short Long

Really lovely ambient music. I loved all the cello. If I ran a planetarium this would be a perfect soundtrack to my shows.

waves of bliss and awe a platonic ideal for modern ambient File next to the greatest acts in that genre (or ones in very adjacent styles): Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Sigur Rós, Fennesz, William Basinski, Grouper, Nils Frahm, Oneohtrix Point Never, Julianna Barwick, Dylan Henner, Heinali... And thanks for putting this record out there. Three footnotes: Oliver Coates' cello on the title track is indeed a thing of wonder. I've just read that the artist known as "Malibu" is the daughter of an oceanographer. She might not be one herself, but the apple never falls far from the tree, doesn't it? One man studies the ocean. His daughter pays tribute to it through music. Makes sense. Malibu has just released a full-length album this year, *Vanities*, by the way. It's in a somewhat more "film noir" vein (soundscapes inspired by Los Angeles landscapes, or so I hear). It's excellent as well, and transports you to places that are equally evocative and breathtaking. So please check it out. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. Even though it's technically an E.P. But more on that later... 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 64 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 82 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 157 (including this one, because it's technically an E.P. -- *Vanities* might make the cut though, who knows?. I'm still putting this record in my highest-rated gallery anyway. Its global score is too low and it's too beautiful to go unnoticed by fans of the genre, I want to help turn the karmic balance the other way. Hope other music listeners and reviewers here will concur) ---- Emile... Je viens de lire ta dernière réponse. Je vais essayer de trouver le temps de rédiger la mienne pendant la période des fêtes. D'ici-là, ben joyeux Noël et bonne année aussi !

Hey this is an ep :( It's really nice though :) 4

Sitting on an infinite beach staring into the oceans of time

I’ve been listening to a lot of ambient music lately. I’m finding that it works as an effective salve to treat the soul crushing and unrelenting barrage of bullshit that constitutes life in America in 2025. It’s a warm and enveloping escape from reality - an audio narcotic, if you will. I enjoyed this EP quite a bit. It washed over and temporarily quieted my racing mind on yet another Monday that’s come too soon.

One Life is the debut EP of Malibu. It is only 4 tracks long. The songs are atmospheric sound shapes sound pleasant, but can also disappear in the background if you don't pay close attention. It's ok, but does not add anything and is quite forgettable.

This made me wonder if this album is what it’s like when you pass out from heroin and have that moment of bliss like in Trainspotting. Of course, I can’t relate to that and found this album to be soothing noise and not much of an album I enjoyed. 3.0/10

Technically an EP but anyway, it is great. One Life is the best track and I would also recommend the Evian Christ mix. I hope some more electronic albums will appear in the user album list.

Wonderful!

Música electrónica. Relajante. Un 4, venga.

Could have listened to a full album's worth of this. Very relaxing. Good to work to.

Very relaxing

Interesting little EP. I enjoy the vibes of it and like the ambient nature of it (especially because it is short). However I don't think it's doing anything really that groundbreaking or different from similar albums. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Checkpoint reached November 4, 2025

Seems less a record to hear before one dies as one to hear as one is dying. Pretty gorgeous and just about as ethereal as can be, an elegant sort of contemplativeness, it has, particularly when leaning into classical-inflected, Gorecki-esque passages (e.g., title track). Would have this replace many of the electronic records on the list proper, especially the dancier / clubbier ones (e.g., Coldcut, the Shamen,Goldie, Leftism of course the loathsome Prodigy, NIN, ilk, etc.) but perhaps even the more “serious” ones (e.g., Aphex Twin, Orbital). One’s been listening to a lot of Gas lately (esp in the mornings) and this will fit right in so thanks, recommender, and one will go off into the rest of the catalog.

Ambient ambience greatness... Perfect for wibing and chilling and chillaxing type of music, thank you for these meditations. Noticed a little Jarre reference within there at one point, going to have to give some plus for that.

Música electrónica. Relajante. No me ha entusiasmado. Pero bueno, seamos buenos ... Le doy un 4.

Música electrónica. Relajante. Un 4, venga.

An ambient album! Cool, more an EP than an album, but very soothing and thoughtfully constructed. Sort of a blur for me though.

Super cool to see some modern ambient on here. This was very pretty and great music to work to. The title track in particular is hauntingly beautiful.

Another one I had ready in my contacts. Good music to let wash over you

Hyvä ja kompakti ambient-fiilistely. 4/5

Talk about walking into something blind and being completely blind. Seeing a European Electronic duo (again) hits you in the gut for a disapointing listen, until you litsten to the serenity and peaceful calm that are invoked by this loveliness. This album is a good reminder to check your biases with every new album and give it a shot. 4/5

Rating: 6/10

I too have listened to Eno’s music for Airports

Not really my thing, but it's all right. 3 stars.

I don't really know much about ambient, but an intrigued by it. I really enjoyed the work here, though its really hard to understand if its good as i don't expect to be listening to it in the same way. Its ethereal but has some warmth from a strings sounding influence. I liked checking this out.

Pretty

Lovely lush ambient electronica.

That is surely some ambient. I actually liked this kind of thing, I'm just not sure it belongs in precisely the same category as music. I would listen to more though.

Pleasant enough music for the background or a relaxing mood.

Good ambient EP

Nice enough

Ambient's got a pretty high floor as far as genres go. Rare instance of feeling like I'd prefer longer than E.P.-length

Pleasant enough. I do like ambient and this was fine but not exceptional?

It's nice, too short in fact. You might say it's kinda 'nothingy' but that's the idea..... Very relaxing.

Pretty cool one. Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" meets C418's "Minecraft: Volume Beta", which is a sentence that has never been uttered before in the history of humanity. Songs probably should have been longer, since they very often end before they even manage to properly suck you into their soundscapes. Stuff just sorta happens. 3/5.

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing!

Very chill and minimalist. Will definitely come back to this if I ever get into meditation.

Was not aware of this artist. I enjoyed having this on.

One Life is very chill ambient music, among the better of the genre's contributions we've had on here. Very dreamy, very soothing, Lost At Sea in particular is really good; ultimately it's a half-hour EP and only a high 3 because it's background music rather than something I properly enjoy time after time but it was a nice start to my day.

It's not a good album. It's 1 star. However, I must give it credit for some experimentation out of my usual box, and another credit for not being US/UK. It leads my final note in 3 stars, not bad.

Haunting, ethereal, almost like Enya on quaaludes.

I mean, it's an EP so why bother? It is pretty good though

Chill wall paper music, but it did make my train trip to work more pleasant

It’s fine, well constructed and executed but just too ambient and wandering in its short runtime to generate any interest.

Why the need for more ambience?

Very boring.

This is nice enough, I feel bad giving it this low of a score, but looking back there really isn't much to grab on to, and when one my only foundations for ambient is the mountainous Brian Eno, it leads to a pretty unfair climb for everyone else.

Hardly anything to it

Personen som la till den här har lagt till ytterligare en platta. Den var fruktansvärt dålig och den här är bara dålig. Okej, den får en svag tvåa. Det går ju faktiskt att lyssna på den här under pistolhot.

Dull ambient music 2 stars as it’s short but I genuinely don’t understand how people can enjoy this

just evocative, good cover

This is what I listened to in 1995 when I was playing Myst. It’s pretty, but I didn’t think it needed an album in this century.

OK. Let's forget about the technicalities here. I'm wondering why John Tesh hasn't been on this list... I appreciate that someone would like to share this with me. Sometimes, recommendations just don't hit the mark. For those who rated this as a 5, would you be comfortable giving this EP out as a Christmas present? Would you like to receive it as a present?

I'm usually a sucker for this kind of stuff, but this just felt so empty and meaningless and weightless. Also, I thought user albums had to have a Wikipedia page attached to them? There are so many albums I love and would have submitted without Wikis.

Not an album. Just sort of happens in the background, for less than half an hour, then stops. Mildly hypnotic at points, but still 100% an e.p. rather than an album.

A collection of soundscapes can’t be one of the 1,001 greatest albums

Dull. Unless I missed something?