By Jonny Bakes
The only way to introduce this album is to take you through my thought process that led me into my first listen… First of all, the name Mark Datter, I like that; a classic spoonerism of Dark Matter. Next, the title ‘Deathswing’, now is that a hint at the style, or some sort of hint that we’re talking death metal that makes wild swings into other genres? And third, the opening track ‘Vaginal Frostbite’, well not only is that not what I expected, it also sounds seriously uncomfortable!
The theme of things not being what I expected continued when I listened through this whole EP by the mysterious multi-instrumentalist of many names hailing from Velejne, Slovenia. Among many things, he has taken to travelling around in a van playing punk sets with two minutes set up time, 15 minutes play time, and then two minutes to pack up and disappear again. But ‘Deathswing’ is very much not along those lines at all.
Instead, ‘Deathswing’ has a bizarre mix of swing/rockabilly vibes with frequent interjecting, and sometimes mismatched, saxophone riffs. This is paired with an almost Frank Zappa-like spoken word singing style that is distorted and muted in a way that it becomes more of a background noise than a focal point for the music. In a way, I found myself enjoying it but I think perhaps it was the draw of it being within the realm of the weird and wonderful that kept me listening to it. Whereas another friend couldn’t bear to listen through the entirety of ‘Vaginal Frostbite’ and that’s less than 3 minutes long…
So, I think it’s safe to say that this isn’t going to be something for everyone, and I reckon that for many it’ll be more of a curiosity piece than an EP that you’ll want to listen to over and over again. If my description of the rockabilly smashed together with saxophone that fits about as well Eddie Hall in a regular man’s T-shirt has already grabbed your interest, then perhaps another couple of song titles will too… How about ‘God’s Cock’ or ‘Battered by Rodents’, I bet those interest you too, right?
Let’s face it ‘Deathswing’ isn’t here to be taken seriously and if that’s your bag, and you want something short and sweet with lashings of the unusual, try out this little morsel from Mark Datter. But if you’re here for a serious contender to break into your music collection of predominantly bands with significant radio play then you are most certainly not in Kansas anymore and need to click those heels together and wish for no place like Planet Rock.
- ‘Deathswing’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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