Album Review: Collector by Disq

Most of what you read surrounding the release of this disarmingly accomplished debut record from Disq will make reference to their tender years, but in this case, the fact that the Madison, WI five-piece are barely out of their teens feels like less of an easy talking point and more of an integral part of the record's story. 'Collector' is a chronicle of teenage life in middle America so sharply observed that you could cut yourself on it, opening with a simmering kick out against day-to-day monotony ('Daily Routine') and finding poetry in the pedestrian throughout. There's the charming 'D19' - a woozily melodic love song about a microphone that might be the best paean to an inanimate object since 'Ode to Viceroy' - and then there's moody near-shoegaze on 'Gentle' and the doomy 'I Wanna Die'.

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Disq have been steadily gaining attention over the past few years as one of the most promising up and coming indie acts. Collector, the band's debut (released on Saddle Creek), is an admirable amalgamation of Disq's power pop influences. Listening here you can find traces of Weezer, Big Star, and The Beatles, with touches of psych rock, post-punk and folk thrown in.

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Not only have their fanbase and capabilities increased, but their personnel has also blossomed from a measly duo to a mighty collective of five. Still driven by the original partnership of Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock, the band has since added Shannon Connor (guitar/keys/vocals), Logan Severson (guitar/vocals), and Brendan Manley (drums); all musicians they've met playing around their home city of Madison. Helping the band develop beyond the Tame Impala-debted debut Slone and Bock released on Bandcamp back in 2016, their new full-length, Collector, is a reflection of that change.

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Parquet Courts meet Weezer on Madison, WI band Disq's debut album, Collector. The band's youth and enthusiasm, combined with their earnest Midwestern aesthetic, carries through in their frenetic, energetic first album. "Daily Routine," the song that kicks off the album, even implies flavours of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. The band have decided to meld songs from a pile of demos that each of the five members have built up over the years. This has resulted in a complex and thorough album that provides a mixture of shoegazing indie rock and angst-fuelled post-punk. The album provides a remarkable sense of breadth for a debut from a group of relatively young people. But diversity, while an interesting choice, may not always be a good thing..

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The jump from adolescence to adulthood sneaks up on you; a confusing and often overwhelming slalom between newfound freedoms, crushing obligation and the tensions between the two. As we all know, this serves as the undercurrent of many a tender-hearted rock 'n' roller's songwriting escapades, but Wisconsin's Disq explore it all in such playfully smart fashion that it feels totally fresh. That this should come decked out in such fabulously enjoyable music is the real treat, though - 'Collector' is the quintet's second album (and first for emo-ricana stable Saddle Creek), and it's an enthrallingly bold offering.

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F aced with bleak job prospects, corrupted politics and a planet in existential crisis, it's no wonder young indie rockers are currently given to both moping and 90s nostalgia. Joining the likes of Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy at a bedroom shrine to Pavement, Weezer and Teenage Fanclub are this young slacker-indie outfit fromWisconsin who, you suspect, have been asked to tidy away a few socks in their time. Brilliant opener Daily Routine lurches through time changes like someone trying to rouse themselves for their boring grind, and when they do, they hit a seam of Beach Boys sweetness amid the power chords.

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