Mosquito

スウェーデンはマルメを拠点に活動し、その繊細なメロディとノイジーなギター・サウンドで世界的な支持を集める4人組ドリーム・ポップ・バンド、HATER。女性ヴォーカリストCAROLINE LANDAHLによる憂いを帯びた歌声と、RADIO DEPT.やCARDIGANSの系譜を継ぐスウェディッシュ・ポップの伝統、そして現代的なシューゲイズの質感を巧みに融合させてきました。

称賛を浴びた2022年作『SINCERE』から約3年間の沈黙を破りリリースされる2026年4TH。スウェーデン郊外のAGM STUDIOSに籠もり、長年の共作者であるプロデューサーJOAKIM LINDBERGとともに制作された本作は、これまでのドリーム・ポップ的な淡さに加え、よりダイレクトで研ぎ澄まされたソングライティングへと進化を遂げています。

スロウに展開する美しい非難声明"ANGEL CUPID"、不穏なゴシック的空気を纏った"STINGER"など、多彩な音像を提示。先行シングルとなった"THIS GUY?"では、エコーの効いた空間の中でCAROLINE LANDAHLの歌声が浮遊し、切実な渇望とミステリアスな物語が交錯するドラマチックな展開を披露しています。

ベーシストADAM AGACEが復帰し、鉄壁のラインナップで録音された本盤。90年代インディ・ロックのフックと、緻密に構築されたノイズの壁が、失恋や未来への希望というエモーショナルな機微を鮮やかに描き出した一作です。

Hater wrings a lot of intensity and drama out of a standard guitar-bass-drums-vocals lineup. Their 2022 album Sincere was a mini-masterpiece of tightly coiled emotions, menacingly jangled guitars, thundering bass, precisely thumped drums, and sparsely wrought production presided over by the taut to the point of snapping in half vocals of Caroline Landahl. It was a Swedish cousin of the Wedding Presents Seamonsters and marked the groups giant leap into the upper echelon of indie rock. Fast forward a couple of years, and Mosquito appears. Its another gut punch of an album, full of bitterness, bleak desperation, and gnarled emotions, this time delivered with a softer, less intense touch. The band dial back the violence just a bit on songs like "Angel Cupid" to let the melody and Landahls naked emotion take the lead. This less explosive approach is just as powerful in every way that counts, and the emotional kick of the chorus is almost visceral, even though it barely raises its voice. They do this trick a few times, while also scattering in songs that tread in the footsteps of Sincere, only a little less heavily. "This Guy?" matches some jagged guitar lines with thrumming bass and soaring vocals from Landahl, the title track does the quiet verse/loud chorus thing perfectly, and "Still Thinking of You" folds in some post-punk swagger alongside murkily twanging guitar and strong backing vocal harmonies. In between these two extremes are several songs that ply the midtempo trade with palpable dynamic tension, balancing on a high wire of emotion and leaving the listener breathless as they wait to see if the band will tumble or make it to the end unscathed. The chiming "Guts" and the grungily over-driven "Stinger" are two fine examples of this trick; both call to mind similar feats from Bettie Serveert, another group with the same sense of drama and skill at using arrangements to drive the song ever farther into the listeners brain. Mosquito ends up falling just a little short -- by inches, even -- of the very high set by Sincere, but theres no shame in that. Its still a brilliantly played and sung record that will wash over the listener in a vigorously restrained flood of emotion, sounding like just about the best indie rock one could hope for in 2026. ~ Tim Sendra