Melaina Kol - Therottingmouth

Melaina Kol

Therottingmouth
self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Melaina Kol is an independent project by eighteen-year-old Logan Hornyak. His first effort THEROTTINGMOUTH is far from perfect but shows a lot of potential. Using the bare essentials to make this album he created an eclectic, often experimental array of songs. Some of it works well especially the more experimental efforts because of how lo-fi the recording is.

​He opens with “.169” which is beat-heavy electronic track that is an amusing short snippet of sounds but also isn’t very indicative of the remainder of the album. It sounds like something you might hear from Nicolas Jaar. The very next song “Connor” sounds worlds away from the opener. He lightly strums a guitar, and lays down what sounds like reversed audio sample along with vocals that are not a lead. The vocals are panned hard left and right and are treated like a whisper. 

Up next is “I Dont Care” which is the highlight. This feels like a more fleshed out song and the vocals are uniquely treated and also happen to be very catchy. The lyrics aren't exactly Dylan but they work. He sings, “I don't care I don't want you here I don't need you to care I am fine.“

Other songs like “Chestbeater” are drawn out ambient pieces that are delivered on an acoustic guitar. The melodies are pretty and the vibe is soothing but that's about where it ends. “Forgive” is a lot more dynamic but the recording is so raw at times it has a hard time keeping up.

The album is nineteen songs long which is intense but there are some highlights. A song like “Arvo Part” has a number of solid moments as well as “Vai-“ which has some electronic elements. I’ll say that Hornyak is onto something with his sound but isn’t quite there yet. I’d like to hear him follow the lead of “I Dont Care” which has a vocal melody which really carries the song. He also might want to lean on the side of brevity with the more ambient pieces. 

There is something here and luckily he has an ample amount of time to tweak it. I'll be interested to hear his sound in a couple of years.

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