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For years now, Model/Actriz have been terrorizing the small venues and DIY squats of New York City with a volatile signature blend of noisy punk rock and driving dance rhythms. Their newly studiofied song “Mosquito” has been a staple of their intense live set for some time now, but it arrives today as their first official offering since March 2020’s double single, “Suntan” (also a Song You Need) b/w “Damocles.”
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Produced by Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, The Body, Battles), today’s track comes with news of the group’s signing to the boutique label True Panther Sounds (King Krule, Grace Ives, Oklou), and a visceral visual treatment directed by Leia Jospé, a videographer for How To With John Wilson and the “curator of cringe” at @favetiktoks420.
“Mosquito” is a pummeling synth-punk anthem, anchored by a four-on-floor automated drum track and a driving, repetitive bass groove. “I want this life,” frontman Cole Haden repeats 12 times at the start of the song, his voice barely above a whisper. A stab of bass notes cuts the line’s 13th iteration cut short before its final word, but Haden barely flinches. “I want this — Delicious, to forget this blood,” he continues, quavering ever so slightly but remaining in the same dead-eyed register. “To forget this blood / Plated and cut, to forget this blood / Oh yes / Delicious, and everything gushing ripe and crimson.”
“Don the mirrored halls / Wearing cuffs with insignias gleaming,” he talk-sings over a brief bridge as the band retreats, preparing to double down for the chorus’ onslaught of distorted chaos. “With a body count higher than a mosquito,” he chants above the maelstrom, louder now but still — remarkably — not using his full outside voice.
According to a press release from the band, “Mosquito” is a “call to action to live without fear, inspired by the feeling of craving tenderness inside oneself that had been abandoned out of shame and insecurity.” Haden sums up his vision of the song in the following statement:
“I realized that overcoming my timidness of proclaiming that truth about myself was coincidentally like clearing a hurdle in resolving this song’s central conflict: to fight the comforts of emotional complacency and choose instead a life that with its greater challenges provides greater rewards.”
Watch the “Mosquitoes” video above, and view Model/Actriz’s upcoming tour dates, with The Soft Moon and solo, below.
Model/Actriz tour dates
November 9 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts*
November 11 - Washington, DC - The Howard*
November 12 - Richmond, VA - The Broadberry*
November 13 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle*
November 14 - Atlanta, GA - 529 Bar*
December 8 - Brooklyn, NY - A Very Model/Actriz Chrismukkah 2 @ Union Pool
* with The Soft Moon
