Mouth Wound - Nothing Will Belong to Us [Brucia Records - 2023]Perhaps it’s a bit too simple to draw comparisons between the loss of ownership that is the fate of all humans on their way to death and the larger political horizon of coming to terms with the legacy of colonialism, but there it is. Knowing that Mouth Wound hails from one of those Norther European nations where such things are debated – and rarely repaired – made me think of such questions when listening to Nothing Will Belong to Us. There is a tortured sort of bellow that runs through the nine tracks that make up this release, which is on the dark side of electronic improvisation with voice a heavy foot in the mix. It is not chaotic, however, despite the shadowy essence of these compositions. Mouth Wound’s growls and shrieks move like a dark wave over its sonic terrain, poisoning the air as they emerge from the recesses below.
By the time we reach the sixth track, “Is It All”, there is clearly no going back. Shouting and gutted agony are holding sway now, with little hope of any saving grace, what some Christians might call “light”. The mood is nearly impossible to ignore, which means that for those who are prone to such outbursts, or an appreciation of their aesthetic merits, Nothing Will Belong to Us should be right up your alley, or dark corner, or whatever the metaphor might be. For others, who recoil from melodrama and tragedy like a middle-aged parent spending an evening on Tiktok, this album will never penetrate that invisible fortress some of us call “temperament”.
Recommended for fans of miasmic, free-form composition with a dark underbelly of screams from the closest bardo, wherever that may be.    Colin Lang
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