Despite the fact they had gone through a few lineup changes, the Chicago, IL-based post-punk act Disappears since their formation in 2008 received attention for crafting music that thematically explored how difficult it can be to relate to others, how we seek out meaning and attempt to make sense of our surroundings despite the fact that relationships fall part, patterns grow into habits and that our world can shift so rapidly that it’s unsetting and completely unrecognizable. And as a result, their sound generally evoked our contemporary condition — the creeping, anxious dread of venal and vicious world that possesses its own lunatic logic.
Now, as you may recall I wrote about the band quite a bit back in 2013 as they released two similar and yet very different efforts — the atmospheric and tempestuous Kone EP and the tense, raging Era, an album that felt like the interior monologues of Underground Man in Notes from the Underground or of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment as the album featured a narrators, who rapidly vacillated between anxiousness, dangerously unhinged obsession, self-loathing, envy and undulated rage directed both at oneself and at everyone and everything, capturing the dark and frightening recesses of wounded psyche — and a furious roar into the indifferent void.
Early last year, Damon Carruesco (bass) left the band, and the remaining members of Disappears, founding member Brian Case (vocals, guitar) along with Noah Leger (drums) and Jonathan van Herirk (guitar) initially decided to put the project on hold; but ultimately, they decide to carry on, boldly pushing their sound and aesthetic towards new directions with their newest musical collaboration FACS. Musically, Case, Leger and van Herik head in a similar direction as their previous collaboration together but their approach towards the stark, downright menacing post-punk goes finds them taking up much more abstract, rhythms; in fact, “Skylarking,” the first single off the new project’s forthcoming full-length debut Negative Houses features Leger’s tribal and motorik-like drumming at the forefront of the song, with van Herik alternating between slashing and dissonant ambience and forcefully percussive guitar. While Case retains vocal duties, he switches from guitar to playing bass, with an economical yet equally forceful throb — but the major difference between projects is that while retaining the tense and menacing vibes of their preceding project, FACS leans towards a minimalist and downright creepier take.
Directed by Robert Stockwell and featuring choreography by Robyn Mineko, performed by Andrew Murdock, the gorgeous and cinematically shot black and white video features a man, who seems to be battling his own demons within stark environments — an abandoned factory and on its roof. It’s an appropriately moody and unsettling meditation on our own vulnerability and frailty.
FACS Tour Dates
3.30.18 Chicago IL Empty Bottle (Album Release Show) !
5.20.18 Toronto ON Smiling Buddha Bar
5.21.18 Montreal QC Casa Del Poplol
5.22.18 Boston MA Great Scott *
5.23.18 Brooklyn NY Elsewhere *
5.24.18 Washington DC Union Stage *
5.25.28 Philadelphia PA Boot & Saddle *
5.26.28 Pittsburgh PA Club Cafe *
5.27.18 Cleveland OH The Foundry *
5.29.18 Detroit MI El Club *
5.31.18 Indianapolis IN The Hi-Fi *
6.01.18 Louisville KY Zanzibar *
6.02.18 Cincinnati OH MOTR Pub
! with DiM
* with SUUNS
