"mousebites" by dogmarket

Mere weeks after letting you know about the (then) new dogmarket single "Anti! Anti! Anti!", he's back with "mousebites".

I gather that the song has been worked on for quite a while, gradually developed while working on other things: I don't know if that has impacted on the length (I presume not) but coincidentally the duration is an impressive nine and three quarter minutes. Quite possibly one of the longest tracks I've reported on & arguably the longest single.

Does size matter? That's a tricky one isn't it? I possess plenty of long tracks which go off into strange directions (a lot are dub mixes) and retain the listener's interest throughout. Lord knows there are plenty of tedious but short songs to steal even three minutes you'll never get back.

Where Thom really pushes boundaries though is in creating such a track of such intensity. The question is not really of potentially boring but of initiating emotional overload. A health warning to the effect might be wise.

The time spent building it therefore can definitely be evidenced in the layering of elements (though I gather too that he wanted to explore the technical limits of his home recording setup in terms of the length).

These tend to form the sort of longer track which presents more in the form of successive movements rather than the more hypnotic type exemplified by the dub one I cited above.

This plays out successfully in terms of attention holding & shifting dynamics: the arrangement allows instruments and vocals to enter & drop out so the density ebbs and flows. However in addition to this, one also gets an accumulative effect not possible in briefer pieces.

As you'll know from other articles, if a musician has taken the time to blend sounds together to create a whole, I'm not sure it's terrifically respectful to try to deconstruct them in detail: not that I could. In addition to the drums, guitars, synths etc which might be expected, I gather that there is a trumpet in there too: but sounds are so treated that I needed telling that.

What does it "mean"? Well firstly a quick raise of the hat to the title: coming up with a unique one (as far as I can tell) is both creative and memorable. Beyond that, it comes across as pretty abstract. The vocals deliver lyrics I can't decipher (I'm assuming that's deliberate but can't exclude my own ineptitude. I certainly wasn't prepared to try & isolate them: again that doesn't seem right) so they can't help. I think one passage at least evokes rodents squeaking but that may be my imagination. At any rate the latter was stimulated in that regard which justifies the track to me.

I fear the mainstream media will pass on "mousebites" but that's their limitation. I'd much rather take the challenge of something original albeit with an element of challenge than to wade through the morass of derivatives. The fact that dogmarket is a "passion project" for Thom must be a key element in the difference.