Disappears - Guider | Album review

 

Last September, when Neu! mastermind and krautrock godfather Michael Rother brought his Hallogallo tour to Lincoln Hall, the opening slot went to psych-punk minimalists Disappears. The meeting apparently made quite the impression on the local outfit. Not only does Rother’s motorik groove course through the band’s second album, Guider, but his drummer for that tour, Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, has now stepped in for departed Disappears stickman Graeme Gibson.

Before leaving the band (and Chicago) for the left coast, however, Gibson helped record this parting gift. More of an EP, really, Guider packs six songs into 30 minutes, with the second half entirely consumed by “Revisiting”—nearly 16 minutes of hypnotic vamping. Frontman Brian Case’s gothic monotone hovers over the relentless riffing as fellow guitarist Jonathan van Herik coaxes yawning feedback and druggy drones from his amp. Prodded by Gibson’s unwavering pulse and Damon Carruesco’s insistent low end, it’s easy to get swallowed up in the minimalist epic.

The disc’s first five nuggets, while concise, are just as severe. Case repeatedly belts, “I wanna protect you,” amid the throbbing “Halo,” his exquisite howl like an overdriven Mark E. Smith. Elsewhere, Carruesco’s walking bass crawls up and down the frets on the breakneck title-track. Other bands might fear being so one-dimensional. Disappears wisely rides it out, hammering its unbending intensity into this haunting document.

Disappears hits Empty Bottle Friday 4.

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