From south London to South America.

Mala has shared another track from his forthcoming Mirrors album, which was premiered by James Blake last night (May 12) on his Radio 1 show.

A percussion-heavy roller, ‘4 Elements’ bridges the gap between a pulsing Peruvian spirit – the LP’s country of origin – and tempered breakbeat, for a dynamic surge of sound that’s a great primer for the record.

Mala ventured to Peru, visiting Lima along with Cusco and the Sacred Valley just outside of the capital, to make an album that brings together traditional Peruvian instruments with his signature bass. 

“I was introduced to music from the jungle, music from the mountains, Andean sounds, native sounds, Afro-Peruvian music,” explains Mala. “It all goes back to the roots and the rhythms and I related instantly. That primal rhythm is in all of us.”

Mirrors is the follow-up to 2012’s well-received debut LP Mala in Cuba, which was released by Brownswood Recordings’ boss Gilles Peterson.

Again out on Brownswood, in addition to regular vinyl, CD and digital formats, Mirrors will also be released as a limited edition triple vinyl box set. It’s due for release June 10.

Watch what happened when Mala was invited to dig through John Peel’s huge record collection.