Analog Sermon (CA)

Japanese sound designer and musician Moskitoo returns to 12k six years after her debut album, <i>Drape</i>, which was released in 2007. During these six years Moskitoo has grown artistically, performing live all over the world and working on a variety of graphic and sound design projects, including work for Japanese television and iOS apps.

Her second album for 12k, <i>Mitosis</i>, is a delicate and complex work of experimental folk music, defined by her soft, airy vocals and glitchy electronic accents. Immediately, with the album’s opening of “Wonder Particle,” it becomes clear that Moskitoo is on a musical search of her own, making no efforts to follow already established trends and thus retaining a high level of originality in her ambient compositions.

The convergence of electronics and folk ideas demonstrated by Moskitoo is something that seems to be quite slow to take off in Canada, with most folk musicians here never straying far from the acoustic guitar and vocal recipe assembled a century ago.

What Moskitoo shows time and time again over the course of <i>Mitosis</i>, is that electronics — at even their most “cold” and harsh in timbre — can fit beautifully right next to something as emotive and organic as an honest human voice, without ever detracting from the character and power of her own vocal work. The blend of guitars, xylophones, and other ‘real’ instruments with electronics on <i>Mitosis</i> create a dreamy, ethereal soundscapes of journeys that — while heavily electronic — share with the listener emotions that are distinctly human.