Disappears – Irreal

The fifth album from Chicago quartet Disappears is so massive, so spatially aware that it appears to descend from an unattainable height without ever touching down. The band have transcended their hitherto naked Spacemen 3 influences to create something altogether more modern, even extroverted sounding. Key to this is producer John Congleton, who hones and shapes every single sinew of this fine album with extreme levels of finesse.

OUD is driven by a simple hi-hat figure, albeit one severely flanged and foregrounded, reducing the surrounding guitar fragments to mere accompanying noise, inverting the typical rock setup. The title track meanwhile similarly deconstructs itself before being resurrected in a glorious, near-atonal blowout.

Frontman Brian Case’s lyrics are suitably opaque and rendered almost superfluous in the face of this sonic barrage but perhaps that’s the point; Disappears have a suspect relationship with notions of time and form and Irreal flourishes when these uncertainties take over.