"baby blue" by dogmarket

As "mousebites"  followed swiftly on the heels of "Anti! Anti! Anti!" then dogmarket's latest, "baby blue" does at a similar interval.

There have been plenty of songs about blue babies, though as Dylan observed in comparing his one with that of Gene Vincent, they are usually about different ones. This one may (going by the video) by a hostage (unlike any of its predecessors I can think of) though I suspect one should take that as a visual metaphor.

It seems to be about solipsism (which explains the captivity theme) though the stream of consciousness lyrics are not helpful if you require a literal meaning from every song you hear.

I said to Thom earlier today that  my ability to find within me the motivation to review mainstream, derivative music is poor: which is why you get what you get. Much is challenging to the ear and mind (good in my book) and I don't see why one needs to decode every single lyric. Imagery & effect are surely more interesting & engaging in the long term than the glumly prosaic.

In this case, as many others, you need to take a holistic perspective: the words & sounds weave together into another dense dogmarket collage and picking individual elements out can be rewarding but trying to deconstruct it all is probably impossible.

Given that my predilections often lead me into areas where I have few reference points, in these instances a conversation with the artist is much appreciated so that I have something to pass on. I'd not have identified Jerskin Fendrix as any sort of influence until Thom revealed this aspect.

Going for a "more inhuman voice" (he succeeds!) obviously accounts for much of the character of "baby blue" but the instrumental layers were deliberately all generated by Korg (and like many experimental artists his starting point was using an instrument he was less experienced on) rather than processed subsequent to playing.

So what does it sound like? Well don't expect to hear Radio Two playing it any time soon and it probably would bewilder anyone attempting to interpret it on the dancefloor: but as a mood piece evoking a rather intense emotion it achieves what was intended: in fact, to swing back to the Jerskin Fendrix strand, it has potential as a soundtrack element: I would suggest that experiencing it with its own video (https://www.instagram.com/p/DPBHnYpDShi/)  might really be your best way into it.

You might not understand all of it but it'll leave its impression on you. Which is what art should