The latest signing to Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label, Hakushi Hasegawa has released new single ‘Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)’.
In the hands of another artist, the song could be very different. Gentle, perhaps. Sweet, even. But processed through Hakushi’s typically fast and loose approach to the conventions of genre, dynamics and arrangement, what any other artist would do quickly becomes irrelevant.
The most striking thing about the track is the drums, which frequently overwhelm the rest of the music. It can feel like you’re trying to listen to the song through a wall while an enthusiastic drummer practices beside you. Then suddenly the vocals will lift out of that wall of sound and envelop you in a warmth that feels all the more affecting for its unexpected appearance.
“What I feel I should do from now on is to disturb the music with my own body, and to expose the chaos, although it is not coherent”, says Hakushi of the track. “I believe that this song is the very beginning of that process. The body is always subject to the forces of history and categorisation, but always seems to be situated between individual narratives, songs, and dances at the same time. Please give it a listen – I did my best!”
Watch the video for ‘Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)’ here:
