Best of 2020
Mosquitoes fans take note - Komare is Dominic Goodman and Peter Blundell of said band, whom you may or may not have already encountered via a 7" on IDDB a short while back. You'd be forgiven for missing that, though, as i feel it landed a little in the shadow of their parent band. As if history is repeating itself, the debut Komare album is due right around the same time as the new Mosquitoes... Don't make the mistake of sleeping on them this time round, since The Sense of Hearing certainly feels tied to the ideas explored on Minus Objects and Emergences/Resurgences in particular, obviously because it's similar personnel, but also because there's a clear conceptual synchroneity/concordance. As with Mosquitoes, composition is key, as the songs follow unexpected, non-linear paths in such a way as to remain elusive even after multiple listens. You can never become entirely familiarised with this music, perhaps because of the nature of static and how prominent it is to their sound, a kind of independent organic matter that mutates in our absence so as to appear different when we return to it. What this music is made of is deliberately obfuscated, the incomprehensible vocal contributions buried so deeply within the mix it's like next door is playing a sci-fi body horror through the wall, possibly Event Horizon... The vocal mix reminded me a little of Automatic Writing, and Robert Ashley's fascination with the human voice, and there's certainly elements of the Suicide live tapes and early Cabs/TG here too. But what makes The Sense of Hearing its own beast is how it's creators are clearly well schooled but also give off a wanton autodidactic give-a-fuck attitude. This is music that will piss some people off. Thank fuck for that. Music's not for everyone, right?... limited to 300 copies.
