Kamikaze Nurse

Kamikaze Nurse

Stimuloso

Mint

Few bands torpedo the ears with as much intensity as Kamikaze Nurse. Since forming in 2018, the Vancouver quartet have captivated audiences with scorching music that’s been described as “ethereal skronk,” “Deleuzian rock,” and the “best of the ‘90s.” In 2019, they released their first full-length, Bucky Fleur, via Agony Klub. This spring, Kamikaze Nurse make their Mint Records debut with the focused and dynamic Stimuloso. Combining the word “stimulus” and the Spanish suffix “-oso,” Stimuloso explores—and elicits—just that: a stimulated, excited feeling. Whereas Bucky Fleur engulfed listeners in swirling chaos, Stimuloso presents an evolution, taking risks in playful introspection and refined composition. In 2020, amidst the first wave of the pandemic, the members spent six months self-recording instrumentals for Stimuloso in their jam space. After another weekend completing vocals at Rain City Recorders, they handed off the album to Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, who further endowed Stimuloso with swagger and teeth through his skillful mixing. haracteristic of Kamikaze Nurse, whose name comes from activist-philosopher Simone Weil’s unfulfilled humanitarian death wish, Stimuloso draws inspiration from an array of sources including David Cronenburg’s gut-wrenching tragedy Dead Ringers, the free-flowing, vaguely narrative poetry of John Ashbery, and Mao Zedong’s “Iron Girls,” icons of changing gender norms during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Softly spoken lines of poetry combine with recurring motifs of animals barking, snapping, and growling to conjure a sensory universe both ethereal and familiar.