My Disco have always tempered their minimalist noise rock with machinic bursts rooted in ritual as much as rhythm. But on their fourth record, the Melbourne trio wield their instruments like weapons in a science fiction dystopia. In stark contrast to the sunny disposition of 2010’s Little Joy, Severe is a cold and bleak collection of industrial meditations.
While Ben Andrews’ guitar historically drove My Disco’s momentum, here it takes a back seat to brother Liam Andrews’ pummeling basslines and Rohan Rebeiro’s militaristic percussion. Opening track Recede is My Disco’s most tense and ominous song to date. Rebeiro pounds the floor tom every 16th beat while Liam incants a monk-like chant over a six-note bass riff. Guitars whir in the background like factory equipment from the final scene of the first Terminator film. Technically it’s rock music, but My Disco have never really sounded like a rock band. The space between notes throughout Severe makes it almost jazzy. Successive Pleasure continues the meditative streak, with Liam almost whispering into the microphone over fading guitar chords, the strums and timbre of the instrument never quite audible.
But this is ultimately My Disco’s most aggressive work – the staccato rhythmic gut punch of King Sound recalls the fury of Swans; the hypnotising beat of closing track Careless could soundtrack a battle scene in a John Carpenter-directed neo noir. It’s My Disco at their darkest and heaviest, but also their very best.
BY MATTHEW TOMICH
