Review Summary: Biting noisy guitars, repeated phrases of rhythmic rigidity, raspy sporadic vocals and a penchant for all things thought of as irregular in music are exactly what you will find here, what does this all amount to? Apparently they call it 'paradise'.
My disco have come a long way in the past few years. Initially formed around a very abrasive sound taking root in post-punk screamo and math rock, they have managed to undergo a major transformation completely stripping their sound back to the very basic raw elements of music.
The results are
a complex, tightly coupled mix of tone, rhythm, phrase repetition and silence. Paradise is the culmination of a shift in sound that has been years in the making. Right off the bat the album blasts you with sharp precise and highly effective bursts of drums bass and guitar for what seems an eternity, but manages to only last 1:39. With little to no variation coming during the song until the addition of cymbal or snare hits.
This minimalist shift is most notably thrown in your face on track 5 (an even sun). The song powers through for 9:06 composed from the same drum and bass pattern. Guitars and vocals are sporadicallyÂ*interspersed at various points along the musical time line. The result is a
highly hypnotic and utterly infectious groove that naturally transforms through the course of the song. The groove does not transform in the sense of additional notes or rhythms, but by focusing on the one repeated groove for an extended period the listener is able to fall into a trance like moment where the emotion of every drum hit or note played by the bass takes form in the listeners mind.
Vocals on paradise are a rarity, with most songs featuring extended periods of instrumentation or no vocals at all. This sparsity in the vocals allows the music to dictate the songs, not the lyrics. With the lyrics and vocals being merely an addition to each composition. Additionally the highly abrasive but rather distinctive sound of the guitar and bass, while not producing an extended range of tones, allows the guitars to be used as another tool employed in various ways.
Dynamically paradise comes across like a brick wall, little dynamic variation within each song as well as along the entire spectrum of the album ultimately underpins the most notable aural shift within the band. Each song is a rigid block of sound hitting you in the face repeatedly. For older my disco fans, this will come as a bit of a disappointment, with the band completely doing away with their former reliance on the loud/soft sound contrast which featured highly in all their older material. Instead my disco have moved in favour of a more streamlined one dimensional dynamic range, providing a whole new listening experience.
The precise nature of the execution of all the elements that makeup this album, is by far the fundamental component that makes it all work. Each song is flawlessly thrust forward without a single hesitation. The rhythm section is the prominent element of the album, consistently providing a tight highly accented and visceral edge to the songs allowing the guitars and vocals to essentially 'fill in the gaps'. Surprisingly still, the album manages to provide a wide range of songs, with each song standing out from all the others.
My disco's paradise, proves to be a strong reminder that music is indeed an art-form, always has and always will be. Here are 3 individuals doing what they do best, writing the music they want to write and producing an outstanding and rather innovative series of compositions in the process.
Lets just hope the get the recognition they deserve for daring to push the envelope and bend the rules on what can and cannot be called 'music'.
Standout tracks:
'You Came To Me Like A Cancer Lain Dormant Until It Blossomed Like A Rose'
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'Pair & Pear'
