After the release of their noisy and compelling debut album 'Memory Lanes', Disorientations (BE) started thinking about the path to that difficult 'second one'. As before, they crawled boldly into their rehearsal room and started endless jams that were recorded and re-listened. They found inspiration in the classic 'band idea' where everyone plays an essential role in the writing process. A romantic idea that works but takes a huge amount of energy and time. The band's identity is fully determined by the entirety of its members. No one played a decisive role in the earlier writing processes. Writing together had become a habit. However, the search for new songs turned out to be not that easy, because avoiding flat tracks is less obvious than thought.
Writing 'Lost Today' came with a lot of energy and pitfalls, but that fragile and somewhat clumsy quest to new creativity also became the subject of the new record. Just like life, the music writing process contained a lot of contradictions: emotions of love and loathing, connection and isolation and hope and despair were knitted all together in an intense creative process where attraction to write and inclination to give up alternated with each other. It led to a collection of haunting and introspective songs that dive into the mind of someone that is searching for a right attitude while facing things that are difficult to understand.
Musically, there was a search for new ways to complete the songs. By experimenting with digital home recordings before rehearsing live, they created room for atypical song structures. After the basics of the album emerged organically from the band members, the sound was eagerly worked on in pre-production sessions with producer and musician Thomas Valkiers, who played a key role in the development of a more layered and compelling sound who gave the songs more balance and refreshing second guitar lines. This process opened up an exciting path towards an alternative and mature sound that seems to reconcile the sharp bursts of noise rock, the melancholic atmosphere of post-punk and an airy wall of sound reminiscent of the early 90s shoegaze vibe. With 'Lost Today', Disorientations seems ready to take a whole new path. A musical search that seeks to capture a complex palette of emotions, in a world that seems lost in its own contradictions.
Loner starts like a classic post punk track with an 80’s vibe and excellent vocals. I hear a little wall of sound, but a very melodic one. The guitar play is excellent, just as the drummer. The song feels a bit like too short and that is always good!
Crawlin sounds loud and desperate (with again excellent guitar play) and as topping on the cake: the best vocals this song deserves! I feel this song could have been a hit in the 80’s, a million seller!
Not Here has a bit of a softer side, but still deals some blows on a sonic level (thanks to the guitar play).
Cynical is so far the most aggressive track, one that will haunt you for a while. I’m pretty sure it will be an excellent track to perform on stage: feel the energy, the raw power …!
Mother sounds softer, has a more dreamy kind of sound and is so far the least appealing track (all the rest are so far all jewels).
Drift starts almost a capella (jus a bass guitar in the beginning, gently followed by the tapping drums after a while). It takes a while before the song explodes. After that the songs drifts a bit (just like the title of the track).
Boredom is a very interesting track and sounds more like working hard not to sound boring as the song changes all the time, instruments come and go and do hard their best to sound differently from a minute ago.
Escape has a very melancholic touch, seems to be filled with sadness and darkness. It’s the perfect wave track for a rainy day (and sadly it rains here very day lately)!
Momentary is a killer track with a great bass guitar and magical vocals! I feel this one might be a great end track of a regular set! Set the room on fire and go out with a big bang!
Lost Today is the title track and also the last track on this album. The song sounds like 80’s wave, with that typical guitar sound and Niels Elsermans vocals who sound by far like Robert Smith’s (The Cure). It’s a great end track! Congratz!
It’s a great second album (always the hardest), I’m sure they will get further and reach out to more fans! Get them a bit more on stages and a bit higher on the ladder: they deserve it! Radio’s: more airplay and fans: scream it out loud! The future looks bright for this band with a little more help!
LIVE:
10.05 album release show @ Trix, Antwerpen
01.06 @ De Snuffel, Brugge
28.09 @ Pelter Skelter, Pelt
https://linktr.ee/disorientationsband
Read our interview from the previous album here:
