Presumably, Brian Case has not slept in a year. The Disappears vocalist has now completed new album Spirit Design, following up his 2016 Hands in the Dark debut solo album Tense Nature. Also released by Hands in the Dark, Spirit Design takes the post-industrial loop formations of his earlier record to even grander, insomnia-driven heights and depths. These fresh jams already bring a a whiff of decay — both in a musique concrete/sound-object sense and also framed along social and corporeal thematic lines.
TMT is pleased to premiere “No Immediate Threat” and “White Chapel,” two Spirit Design tracks arriving back-to-back in album sequence, throwing aspects of Case’s (de)compositional range in stark contrast. The former is a work of subtle modulation, as slowly-curling beats radiate trace amounts of melodic byproduct. There’s a real homing device vibe, as sound locks on a target and follows with single-minded focus, incrementally nearing.
In contrast, “White Chapel” slows a gabber-ish plasma pulse to an alienated dirge, making a scaffold for Case’s detached vocals and sooty auditory disintegrations. It’s the inevitable thud of gravity expressed with mask-like indifference. If either or both of these individually ominous tracks grab hold, you can pre-order Spirit Design at the Hands in the Dark store. Out August 25, the album should make a perfect soundtrack to summer’s gradual fade.
Spirit Design track listing:
01. Uncanny Valley
02. Ship Building
03. No Immediate Threat
04. White Chapel
05. UBU
06. Control
07. Cold Space
08. Divider
09. Said Your Name
10. Spirit Design
More about: 90 Day Men, Brian Case, Disappears
