Review Summary: Something good, but not great
Disappear Here is the fourth installment released in 2010 by the famous Welsh breaks/progressive house group, Hybrid. But sadly, there are more negatives then positives with this LP. This is definitely not an atrocious, lackluster attempt made but it isn’t equivalent to their bewildering cinematic journey,
Wide Angle. To make things even, however,
Disappear Here has a lot of diversity in it; there’s a wide range of instruments such as the snare drum and electric bass, and full-of-life vocals which will leave an impression on some listeners. Unfortunately, most of the beats are flavorless altogether, and won’t pierce anything under your skin. Plus most of them are constructed from a simple snare drum, which in turn spikes up the predictability and brings out blandness to your ears. And that’s comparable to almost half this LP.
At times I find it nearly impossible to criticize a Hybrid album so firmly, but this is completely necessary. There could be numerous ways to annotate each track here, detailing every little sound and reverb effect, but if there’s one way to describe it then it would have to be poorly planned. Both the snare drum and electric bass lines are slightly overproduced, each sounding like a BB gun firing off by the minute; or in its simplest form, ear-piercing. On top of that, creativity is hardly encountered here. Generic 4/4 beats and oddly similar tracks are admitted throughout, and therefore take pleasure right out of the structured template. Luckily, the production here is surprisingly accurate other than the noisy drums/bass. You are guaranteed to find detailed orchestral setups that go hand-in-hand with most of the tracks, and a lot of vocally driven climaxes/cool-downs that increase emotion by a car load.
Break My Soul is probably the best track on here that perfectly articulates the wind-up-cool-down portion. The intermission consists of a female vocalist wailing at the skies and eventually pivots itself into a frightening beat that carries the rest of the track over.
Can you hear me is one of the fewest highlights here. It’s strangely sung by a male, and to most die-hard fans including myself, is an odd yet inviting occurrence in the world of Hybrid. The beat progresses nicely and retains an atmospheric coat.
Numb thankfully is the complete opposite of the name; it’s an emotionally uplifting, body-soothing song and has piano keystrokes that are grasping to the touch. Most of these tracks are between average and good, but they aren’t disastrous.
Listening to this album from start to finish and actually enjoying every part of it will never come in contact with
Disappear Here, but the fact the production is excellent and a few tunes will bring in a swarm of people, it overall warrants a good Hybrid album. Preoccupied fans of
Wide Angle may very well easily pass this by their heads, but anyone looking for an amicable yet occasionally boring full-length record should check this out immediately.
. you gonna review anytime soon?
