Album Review: Disappears- Era



Ok so I’m not like SUPER well versed in the ways of the Chicago post-punk/shoegaze outfit Disappears.

But from their new LP, Era, I get a general sense of what they’re all about.

Era comes off as either a lite version of NYC noise makers A Place to Bury Strangers with some Interpol-esq leanings (circa 2002), OR, a slightly heavier version of any indie band out there right now that works with slight plate reverb in their sound.

I don’t remember when I came across Disappears—at one point, Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley was playing drums for them, and I’m guessing that is probably how I even was aware of them. Shelly is no longer behind the kit—the band’s Wikipedia claims he had some “scheduling conflicts.” It’s rather fitting that someone from such an iconic band would file in with a relatively young/unknown act—Disappears’ sound, at times, also owes QUITE a bit to Sonic Youth.

Era, overall, is pretty self-indulgent. Of the seven tracks on the LP, one of them is pushing ten minutes, one is just a hair under eight, and the other is over six. The rest are wrapped up nicely in pop-song length packages. Interestingly enough, it’s not the nine minute “Ultra” that drags—it’s the closing track, the “spooky” “New House,” with its monotone semi-cryptic lyrics, it trudges along at a snail’s pace. It also is kind of a shitty closing song—I understand that sometimes you want to bring the vibe down a little at the end, but damn. This kind of kills the vibe—it’s most noticeable because the album starts out with the super brash, shouty, noisy “Girl.”

While the record has a slightly more focused sounding aesthetic, by comparison of their previous two LPs, it comes off as a little uptight. 2010's Lux is very raw sounding; still brash, but also a little less self-aware. Last year's Pre-Language—the band’s only LP to feature Steve Shelly—packs their post-punk explosiveness into tighter songs. I stop short of saying they are “pop” songs, because they are certainly not, but the songwriting capabilities of the band obviously grew in the two years between albums.

Disappears are on Chicago-based label Kranky, which is also the home to a like-minded Chicago band, Implodes. These records both actually have a lot in common—aside from the obvious. The Implodes record wasn’t bad by any means. It just wasn’t memorable. And that’s the unfortunate thing about Era. It’s a dense record, full of well-thought out production work, and until it kind of comes to a halt towards the end—the whole thing is paced pretty well; but there’s something that is preventing this from being the kind of record you truly pay attention to, and whether you want it to or not, becomes just some noise in the background.


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