Malakoff Kowalski was born to Persian parents in Boston, grew up in Hamburg, and lives in Berlin today. His first solo album Neue Deutsche Reiselieder was released in 2009. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung described his 2012 album, Kill Your Babies—Filmscore for an Unknown Picture, as “an album full of melancholic song sketches. As if he had cut out the pieces of a scratched copy of a Nouvelle Vague film.” In 2015, the album I Love You was released, a mix of jazz, folk and film music.