Young Magic’s new album Still Life has its roots in a profoundly sad event, with singer Melati Malay deciding to decamp to Indonesia after the death of her father.

The New York–based frontwoman returned to the country where she was raised determined partly to research her family history and partly to escape the clang and clamour of modern life in North America. Eventually, she started sketching out songs, and then returned to the Big Apple to flesh them out with a support cast that included her long-time Young Magic collaborator Isaac Emmanuel, NYC cellist-composer Kelsey Lu McJunkins, and Detroit producer Erin Rioux.

The first thing that one notices about the electro-chilled Still Life is that, while often ethereal and haunting, it’s never depressing. Even when Malay is pouring out her heart with lines like “Never wanted to be the compromise”, from the heaven-sent “How Wonderful”, she sounds like someone who tends to look into the light. Reached on her cellphone in a tour vehicle headed to Nashville, she confirms that’s indeed the case.

“I think I’m an optimist at heart, so even though the record has roots in tragedy, I really wanted to turn it around into something that was beautiful. I wanted something that people could connect to and feel good listening to. There’s already enough disaster, tragedy, and chaos in this world, and I didn’t want to add to it. I wanted to make a record that was defiant despite what had happened. Something strong.”

In doing so, she was also hoping to bring the world a little closer together, something that seems more important than ever when we’ve got fear-mongers like Donald Trump leading the presidential polls in an increasingly divided America.

Still Life may have taken shape in North America, but it began in Indonesia, where Malay made field recordings of everything from gamelan percussion to the sounds of life at local markets. The songs on the album are built on a foundation of transcendent synths and gauze-swaddled vocals but much of their majesty comes from the little touches, such as the Congotronics percussion in “Sleep Now” and the stately cello swells in “Iwy”. All of the tracks are perfect for chilling out, whether you’re in a Yaletown condo or a beach hut in Bali.

“There’s a word for the way things move in Indonesia—it’s kind of like island time, but it’s called jam karet, which translates to ‘elastic time’,” Malay says. “That’s actually a song on our first record [2012’s Melt]. In Indonesia I was able to get away and reflect on things, but there was also a lot of human contact, because I was with family.”

Ultimately, one of the great things about Still Life is the way that it manages to sound exotic and foreign and global and urban. And in some way, bridging cultures comes naturally to her, as her Catholic father was a small-town Illinois boy who enlisted in the navy and ended up in Indonesia, where he met Malay’s mother, a Muslim.

“I went to an international school, and all of my friends were from all over the world,” she says of growing up in Jakarta. “I just thought that was normal. It was only after moving to New York that I realized there’s still a strong sense of segregation in the world. And it’s unnecessary. The more we remain open and understanding and being educated on people’s cultures and ideas, the more we’re hopefully going to be able to change that.”

Young Magic plays the Imperial on Saturday (May 28).