London electro-pop act TALA unveiled her third EP 'Malika' back in October 2015, featuring a variety of collaborations with a range of different artists. Inspired by the pop mentality of Western culture as well as Eastern musical ventures, she opens up about the things that have influenced her on her latest production project.

TalaTala unveiled her third EP in October

Tala reveals that much of her musical sensibility stems from her exposure to Middle Eastern music played by her Iranian father, though she was also exposed to more Western music from her Tom Jones loving mother. Plus, she was classically trained on piano from the age of 7. 

'I wanted to play the flute but my fingers are apparently not long enough', she confessed. 'My mum said to me as an incentive, 'If you get to grade 8 and finish all your grades, I'll get you a grand piano'. I think my mum probably though I might give up at grade 6 or 7.'

Alas, she continued to play and broadened her musical spectrum to incorporate electronic music from all around the world. She's worked alongside Banks (on 'Wolfpack') and MissingNo (on 'Tell Me'), but she's also got the chance to meet some more obscure talent from across the globe. 

Watch the full interview with Tala here:

'I wanted to work with artists from different countries and genres of music that I feel we don't really get here, that hasn't really filtered into our mainstream music', she explained. 'I feel like I accomplished that with going to Egypt and working with Sadat and Alaa Fifty - electro-shaabi artists. Also, working with Silas from [the UK] and Atiye from Turkey who's a popstar.'

'Malika', released via Columbia Records, follows up her previous EP releases from 2014 entitled 'The Duchess' and 'Alchemy'. Tala has recently been filming in Abbey Road Studios for Channel 4's 'Future Sounds'.