Zach Hodges let chaos reign in Nuclear Muskrat and performed it with a conductor’s cultivated contact and a mad scientist’s curiosity. The 19-year-old Midlands-based musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist could also be early in his profession, however by way of his LP, Child Landmark, he’s already confirmed that style loyalty is an idea greatest left previously.
Hodges, identified for his work as a theatre musical director for String Cheese Theatre, his place behind the package in Midlands jazz trio Head to Head, and his worldwide touring expertise, funnelled each inch of his multidisciplinary pedigree into this 7-minute experimental tour de drive. Nuclear Muskrat isn’t content material to sit down nonetheless—inside its frenetic framework, it flexes polka funk motifs, indietronica laced with avant-garde results, funked-up disco grooves, blues-drenched riffs, erratic polyphonic keys, and incendiary synth bursts.
Whereas it might have been straightforward for this to really feel like a pure act of self-indulgence, it’s straightforward to go together with the journey with Hodges as he demonstrates the malleability of sound in a means so seamless it’s as if the entire textures, tones and tempos have all the time been complementary pairings. It’s as if the modern historical past of music has been condensed within the explorative mind-melter that regularly pulls the rug and lays down a unique one earlier than the final footstep can land.
If you happen to’re all the time on the hunt for music that challenges mediocrity, Nuclear Muskrat is the final word contender.
Nuclear Muskrat is now accessible to stream on all main platforms, together with Spotify.
Evaluation by Amelia Vandergast.
