For much of the last decade, Joji Malani was best known for doling Gang Of Youths their musical bedrock, armed with an ear for theatricality, a fierce will to break the boundaries of genre, and a love for rock ’n’ roll at his core. But in 2019 - just when Gang Of Youths became mainstream darlings on the back of their insta-classic second album, 2017’s Go Farther In Lightness - Malani bid adieu to his chosen family, eager to explore a new direction as a solo artist.
Under the moniker Pei (a Fijian word for “baby"), Malani’s new material glimmers with a hint of the charm heard in his work with Gangs - ‘Growth’ and ‘Trying’, for example, are both progressive indie-pop songs made epic