Disapears: Pre-Language (2012)

Pre-Language es el tercer disco de esta banda de Chicago llamada Dissappears. Sus anteriores entregas fueron Lux (2012) y Guider (2011), álbumes con los que la banda inicaba su camino de introspección por las sendas del Kraut-Rock, del Post-Punk, aderezadas con guindas Psicodélicas y Garajeras. Para este tercer disco grande, las huestes de Brian Cage (The Ponys, 90 Day Men) alistaron en sus filas al batería de Sonic Youth, Steve Shelley, y parece que ésta vino a ser una de las influencias más decisivas en su sonido: la huella de la Juventud Sónica impregna los surcos de Pre-Language  ; el espíritu del personaje empapa las canciones (Hibernation sickness, Pre-Language, All gone white, Joa) y la producción del disco, que corre a cargo de John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse); y de alguna manera parece que preside sus influencias. De todos modos, para entender su sonoido, yo rastrearía también las huellas de bandas como The Fall, The Stooges, sus paisanos Tortoise…
Pero tampoco vamos a lanzar demasiadas flores al viento, porque Pre-Language es, básicamente y en su conjunto un disco bastante aburrido. Si exceptuamos su comienzo, fulgurante y explosivo, con la mejor canción del lote: Replicate, a la que sigue la no menos intensa Pre-Language; el resto del disco, al menos para quien escribe, se hace demasiado largo, monótono y monocorde. Y no será por falta de ese espíritu que ayer echábamos de menos, ya que aquí guitarras y fiereza nos sobra por todos lados. Las composiciones de Pre-Language no resisten demasiadas escuchas. Una lástima.

Dissappears – Pre-Language (2012)

“Disappears have long been Chicago’s best kept secret, quietly forming four years ago and self-releasing a couple of singles and then a live album recorded above a local dive bar hangout, the Rainbo Club. They opened Pitchfork Fest ‘09 and a New Year’s Eve show for a reunited Jesus Lizard. With little fanfare, they signed to Kranky Records, on which they released two proper and killer LPs, Guider and Lux, then a live affair, Live at Echo Canyon, as a tour EP. And yet they still stalked around the edges of the Internet hype machine. It wasn’t really until Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth fame joined full time on drums that people began to notice Disappears, and well, it’s about fucking time.
They’ve always been an awesome, genre-warping band and one of the best psyched-out garage rock groups kicking around. Their new LP, Pre Language, which was recently issued on Kranky, is an even more infectious rock ‘n roll effort, worming it’s way into your life so much so you just can’t put the album back on the shelf. Disappears amp up their post-garage rock/post-punk vibe with even more driving motorik rhythms and intense spaced-out guitars than before. Maybe it’s ‘cause they recorded at Sonic Youth’s studio this time around. Or maybe they just wanted to make a record to get noticed and destroy your mind.
Pre Language begins with the surly noise-filled “Replicate”. A song that zooms right outta your speakers, kinda like Wire’s Chairs Missing mixed with the Stooges and Suicide. The title track continues the eerie krautrock meets shoegaze vibe, but with plenty of psych guitar riffs that make you think they’re covering an old Spacemen 3 song. That’s what’s great about Disappears. They once described themselves as music for record collectors, and that’s a very fitting label, because you hear shards of all sorts of great bands in their music. “Hibernation Sickness” could be a Neu! song with more guitar sludge. “Minor Patterns” and “All Gone White” tear down the same path that Wooden Shjips, the Men and early Deerhunter tried to trudge along, although in a unique minimal chord way. You can also hear bits of the Ponys’ garage stomp and the 90 Day Men’s angular post-rock emerge in Pre Language. “Fear of Darkness” could soundtrack your walk to a seedy basement show in a bad part of town with all its propulsive minor chord melody. And “Brother Jolienne” blows the doors off all those bands that try to do experimental rock, like Kinski, Maserati and Explosions in the Sky; compared to Disappears, they seem boring and long-winded.
Pre Language is a very Chicago sounding record—a scene always fighting to be more than just written off as Midwestern and dull, a scene full of gritty determined blue collar rock ‘n roll that breaks all the boundaries and thrashes its way to recognition. Disappears could easily sit right next to other classic Chicago bands like Shellac and Tortoise, and there’s nothing quite like their sparse reverbed post guitar rock out there. Throbbing repetition, guitar wailing, noise freakouts, and echoed vocals fuse together in such a way that make Pre Language sound timeless. And if you’re sad that Sonic Youth broke up, well Disappears more than fills that void in your life” (getbent.com)

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