Disappears appeared last year with their debut, Lux, and have already turned in a followup, Guider. The speed and efficiency with which they operate matches their aesthetic: of the sixteen total songs they've released, fifteen are short and sweet psyche rock attacks. Disappears' music is loud but focused, walking a line between chaos and control like an expert acrobat. "Superstision," the lead track from Guider, gives a good indication of their formula. The tightly wound rhythm section pushes each song forward as the guitars descend like a thundercloud, all distortion and delay and wah-wah and feedback, while the singer shouts curt monotone phrases over top.
- Disappears: Superstition
Disappears are a bizarro respite from a lot of the other new music I'm hearing lately. They are primal, noisy, edgy—a perfectly rigid line amidst a lot of soft noodles. Not to say they exist in a vacuum; they share a love of acid rock, pigfuck, and krautrock right along with peers like Wooden Shjips, Psychic Paramount, Earthless, and others. Among them all, Disappears remains unique if only for their succinctness.
Not counting the one song in their catalogue that is unlike the rest, that is: Guider's closing track, "Revisiting." It's a monster fifteen-minute vamp that is totally hypnotic and enveloping. The song just keeps going until you almost forget you're listening to it. More than once I've had the experience of being jolted right around the eleven-minute mark, realizing that the train is still chugging along. That moment also happens to coincide with when I realize how awesome it is.
Although all of Guider is great, "Revisiting" is really its saving grace. Up to that point, all of Disappears' songs have been almost militantly interchangeable. As much as I like Lux and Guider, the question inevitably comes up: how much more Disappears does a guy need? "Revisiting" at the very least portends that the band has more tricks up their sleeve.
Comments