"Replicate" signals the intentions of Disappears. They copy those who made the original robotic frameworks to house what seems human in its fragility and sustained heartbeat underneath a severe first glance. The title track opens up more of a postpunk approach, but it ramps it down to a more streamlined entry, edging in a more accessible guitar fill over a more conventional beat. "Hibernation Sickness" continues this direction adroitly, and "Minor Patterns" plays into the delay features of a Martin Hannett-era late-70s production, but admirer of that style as I am, it may wear down less ardent hearers well before its four minutes-plus end. It's a self-selecting audience for this astringent mood, certainly.
"All Gone White" with a shivery guitar, grim vocal and an evocative title hearkens to Goth; "Joa" snakes through related atmospheres. "Fear of Darkness" reminds me of the New York sound of '00s revivalist bands nodding back thirty-odd years, but I found it rather monochrome. "Love Drug" lurches about until its final minute, when a danceable rhythm emerges, a rarity on this record so far. This allows Shelley to show off a bit more than many songs allow him to, in their rigidity.
"Brother Joliene" turns to a distorted, downbeat twist recalling Mark E. Smith and The Fall--like them, it for this song prefers to stick to a stern style, until it makes a clever shift to letting out the tension into the guitar surge. It ends this short album intelligently. I doubt if "Pre Language" will excite many not already warmed up to a chilly style, but as the influences I mention in this review tend to be among my favorites, you can judge if this album will satisfy you as well.
Songs tend to be three-five minutes; I hear a "late Joy Division" mood here dominating, in the shifts of emotion instrumentally behind what continues to be a severe (but appropriate) vocal alternating commands and chants. On earlier albums, the Velvet Underground, Krautrock, The Fall, post-punk, drone, and space rock enriched or at least drew comparisons the contents; this time, "Pre Language" appears to want to follow Ian Curtis closer. (See my reviews of #1, "Lux" and #2, "Guider". I recommend hearing these before "Pre Language," which chooses a less diverse mood by comparison, if consistent.)(Amazon US 7-6-12)
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