Hater – Mosquito

Malmö’s Hater—not to be confused with the grunge supergroup of the same name—have been quietly plying their trade for a decade. After starting out as a scrappy indie pop outfit in the vein of Alvvays, they shifted gears on 2022’s Sincere, building a slicker sound on the back of a revamped rhythm section. Now, with their fourth full-length effort, they find themselves at a typical mid-career crossroads. In an algorithm-driven environment that favours buzz over consistency, and newcomers over returners, Hater were always going to have to shout a little louder to make themselves heard—and unfortunately Mosquito just isn’t that kind of record.

The choice to pursue Sincere’s tighter, more polished aesthetic makes sense, but the lack of dynamic shifts and an unusually narrow range of tempos lends Mosquito a curiously homogenous air. Listening to a couple of tracks in isolation is fine, but taken as a whole, the record feels airbrushed to the point of predictability. Pleasant, of course, and well assembled, but devoid of the spark that characterised their earlier work.

The lacklustre “Angel Cupid,” with its banal “Oh, Angel Cupid/You're so fucking stupid” chorus, is arguably the biggest disappointment here, a sluggish plodder that dares to soar but falls miserably short. The moodier “This Guy?” offers a fleeting improvement before Mosquito’s stodgy midsection takes hold.

Charming closer “Last Summer I’ll Spill,” with its spritely bassline offsetting a sense of melancholy, makes a last-ditch attempt to redeem Mosquito, but it’s too little too late. Perhaps the most damning indictment of Mosquito is that it almost sounds as uninspired as its dismal artwork looks.

Mosquito is out now via Fire Records.