If a single band were to personify avant-garde, Mamaleek have made as valiant a case as any for that honor. 

Vida Blue (The Flenser) at times plunges the listener into a black-and-white fifties noir production, rife with simply unheard-of elements and arrangements. The only thing the nine songs have in common is a desire to be unequivocally strange.

On “Vileness Slim,” the bass is viscous yet somehow breeds a sensual feeling. As for the guitar, it sounds as though it was tossed down a laundry chute. Then out of nowhere, choral vocals are thrown into the mix, a direct juxtaposition of troubled wails.

The opening track (“Tegucigalpa”) uncannily conjures an image of a troll performing with a top hat and cane. The guitar notes here are once more untethered, while a persistent bass snoops and eavesdrops. 

“Hatful Of Rain” appropriately changes in mood, with an attitude that is both purposeful and palpable. For good measure, there is also a Dungeon Synth-y intro that presents “Legion Of Bottom Deck Dwellers.”

With all the aforementioned paraphernalia thrown into the melting pot, Mamaleek compound matters with somber pianos, creaky and grinding auras and villainous yet boppy stylings.

There really isn’t any way to prepare for what Vida Blue is or will become after extensive listening. As soon as you are resigned to that fact, the rest is all house money.

It’s like seeing a photo of someone from a hundred years ago driving a cybertruck. Or taking a sip of water that turns out to be raspberry lemonade.

But whatever headspace Mamaleek needed to reach in order to put all of this into an album is one which I hope never to experience (unless I already have).

Buy the album here:
https://mamaleek.bandcamp.com/album/vida-blue

8 / 10
MATT COOK