Malloy James Releases SUNSET ROOF Video Ahead of SEASON 1 & SEASON 2 Albums
The Harlem-based artist has created sound work for Balenciaga, Repossi, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Harlem-based composer and recording artist Malloy James — best known for creating layered, atmospheric sound worlds for runway presentations (Stance and Balenciaga), jewelry houses (Repossi), and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (for a project with architect Suchi Reddy) — has announced Season 1 and Season 2, a pair of rap albums due out October 23.
Accompanying the announcement is the video for Season 1 lead single 'Sunset Roof,' a love-addled missive on rom com-level infatuation set to an evaporating, jazzy stagger of a beat.
Pairing his signature sonic touch with his charismatic voice and artful obsession with the visceral flashes of small details, these companion projects are as vivid and enveloping as any of Malloy's acclaimed sound installations. Taken in concert, Season 1 and Season 2 serve as dueling meditations on memory, love, heartbreak, and self-realization that valorize the sensational over the literal.
Steeped in jazz, soul, and the romantic mythology of New York, Season 1, as Malloy explains, 'feels like remembering a year of your life through scenes instead of dates: Rooftops at sunset. Late nights in New York. Gelato somewhere in Rome. A duffle bag half-packed on the floor. Someone you almost convinced to leave everything behind. Someone else you probably should've never fallen for.' These vignettes of ambition and ego colliding with reckless infatuation play out over dusty soul samples, swinging percussion, airy synths, and a supple 808 thump — a fitting palette for the first half of this suave but sentimental boom-bap Bildungsroman.
Season 1 & Season 2 are out October 23.
Season 1 Tracklist
Pilot (episode 1)
Sunset Roof
Margiela Duffle
Gelato In Rome
Baby G
Westside N****
La Tour De Peliz
Gemini
Crying In Chanel
Rings
Promise Land
Play The Game
About Malloy James
Malloy James is a composer, musician, and sound designer whose work moves fluidly across genres from classical to jazz to neo-soul, embracing a genre-less sensibility that resists fixed categories.
Trained in classical composition and sound engineering, James approaches music with a deep sensitivity to how sound shapes perception, space, and experience. His practice moves seamlessly between concert composition and immersive sound design, crafting intricate sonic environments and detailed soundscapes for live shows, exhibitions, and architectural spaces. Known for his genre-fluid approach, James builds layered sound worlds that draw from diverse musical languages — blending orchestral structure, improvisational textures, and electronic atmospheres into cohesive sonic narratives.
His work includes the creation of layered, atmospheric sound worlds for runway presentations during New York Fashion Week, including sound design contributions for Stance and Balenciaga, as well as bespoke sonic compositions for jewelry houses such as Repossi — where precision, texture, and rhythm are treated with the same care as material and form.
Recent projects range from immersive environments for Lexus International, the National Building Museum, and the Miami Design District, to collaborations with leading architects and designers — including a recent collaboration with architect Suchi Reddy and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Across these works, James composes sound that is both spatial and emotional, shaping how audiences move through and remember environments.
James has participated in a number of prestigious residencies, including the inaugural artist residency at Alvar Aalto's Paimio Sanatorium in Finland, the Ragdale Foundation, and serving as the Distinguished Fellow for the 2024 season at the Design Akademie Saaleck in Germany. He also crafts original compositions for brands, television, and film, creating nuanced soundscapes that establish mood and elevate narrative without overpowering it.
Currently, James is developing Atlas, an expansive project mapping sound and music to space, place, and time.
