Written by Ryan Watson
It’s been a long 5 years since Swedish singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sputnik released Come In, their first project under the name Weatherday. Now that Hornet Disaster is finally in our hands, I can say it was definitely worth the wait. On Hornet Disaster, Sputnik somehow manages to push their sound even further than on their debut. Hornet Disaster is loud, energetic, messy, weird, and most importantly… LOUD. Every time I sat down to listen to the album my ears would be ringing in some capacity by the end of it. But deep within the noise is a beautifully arranged and written masterpiece that blows all expectations following their debut.
On first listen, the mix and production on the album might sound absolutely blown out, noisy, and terrible, but in my opinion, that is where the sound of the album shines. All across the album, every drum and guitar, and even Sputnik’s voice a lot of the time, sounds like they’re constantly peaking the mic and blowing out the speaker. You’re thrown straight into this sound headfirst on the opener and title track “Hornet Disaster”, which immediately cranks everything up to 1000 giving you no time to brace for impact. Although this presentation is extremely rough and noisy, it is in no way messy. Taking a step back and appreciating the sound makes Sputnik’s artistic vision so clear. Every noise is placed so particularly within the mix and every abrasion is intentional. But not every piece of beauty in Hornet Disaster makes your ears hurt. In between moments of pure noise and fuzz are passages of beautiful and even soft production that serve as breathers between pure sonic hell. On the track “Chopland Sedans”, right after it reaches its noisy, blown out climax, the outro that follows is just almost untouched piano with relaxing synths playing behind that sounds like something out of Bon Iver’s 22, A Million. A few songs later you’re greeted by “Ripped Apart By Hands”. The final single prior to the release of the album, “Ripped Apart By Hands” features only an ever so slightly blown out guitar, whimsical synths, and some of Sputnik’s softest vocals across the whole album. This mix of serene beauty and senseless noise creates a beautifully unique listening experience.
The sound of Hornet Disaster is out of this world and truly something to behold, but behind all the borderline maximalist production of the album is some pretty intriguing writing from Sputnik, even if they seem to have an odd fascination with blood. They exemplify this obsession on the fittingly titled track “Blood Online”. They use the idea of bleeding and “letting the blood drip on the screen” as a metaphor for them opening up and being vulnerable towards their partner hoping that they will form a genuine connection as a result. The track also deals with the idea of isolation that is ever present throughout the rest of the album. Hornet Disaster carries over this theme of isolation from Come in, but approaches in a slightly different way. Sputnik explained this concept in an interview with Stereogum where they said “Where Come In is more like, you’ve locked yourself in somewhere, this one — I mention it in one of the songs, ‘Blood Online’ — is you’ve definitely locked the door, but the door was never closed. So it’s an open door that you’ve locked.” The isolation in Hornet Disaster is more of a self-destructive type of isolation, where the door was always open and people were always there for you, but you chose to ignore it and pretend the door is locked behind you. Along with themes of self-destruction and isolation, threaded throughout the album are references and comparisons to the form and behaviour of hornets. One of these many references comes on the track “Take Care of Yourself (Paper-Like Nests)”. The song unsurprisingly tackles the subject of self care and more importantly how the narrator of the track’s idea of self care is far from healthy. This idea is stated pretty clearly with the opening line of the first verse, “Hide your stress it makes you a burden”. This line shows how the narrator pushes down their problems because they believe that it will make them less of a burden to those around them but the refrain of the song, “When you say things like ‘What the hell’, what I hear is ‘Take care of yourself’, contradicts this by showing that the people in the narrator’s life can still see that they are not okay and not taking care of themselves like they thought prior. On multiple parts of the track, Sputnik uses the paper like nests of hornets to portray the narrator secluding themselves from those trying to help them and describes it as comfortable and a place “where no one can hurt them”. The metaphor of hornet’s nest ties back into the overarching theme of self destruction and isolation present throughout the album creating a sort of connective tissue between the tracks and making the album a more cohesive experience for those willing to look deeper into what Sputnik has to say and not just what they have to show.
On Hornet Disaster, Sputnik moved their sound in a new direction while staying true to what made them such a unique voice in the noise pop scene and yet there is still room left for them to push it even further. Sputnik lived up to the expectations created by the 5 year gap between releases and made something spectacular and truly one of a kind.
Rating: 9/10
