Formed in 1985, The Young Gods are a Swiss electronic rock band whose acclaimed catalogue has had an influence on everyone from David Bowie to Mike Patton. One listen to Appear Disappear makes the reasons clear – this is a band who disdain genres, crafting a range of samples and sounds into a unique sonic vista that is all their own. Returning to follow up 2022’s Play Terry Riley In C, the trio comprising Franz Treichler, Cesare Pizzi, and Bernard Trontin, offer up a remarkable album that not only sounds immense but also offers captivates with the endlessly shifting musical forms it incorporates.
The album kicks off with the title track, which bristles with the same sense of effortless cool that underpinned the likes of Girls Against Boys – all electronic percussion and stabbing guitars. Yet, despite the industrial flourishes and semi-spoken verses, there’s a strong grasp of melody in the chorus that keeps things catchy. No less impressive is Systemized, which maintains a constant sense of movement thanks to the tribal, post-punk percussion that throbs just beneath the surface. It’s all the more interesting because, although there is a heaviness to the music, it’s a remarkably airy mix, taking its cues more from EDM than rock, with each element allowed the space in which to flex its muscles.
With the band having deftly hooked the listener, they reel them in with the stunning Blue Me Away, an ambitious piece that recalls V.A.S.T. Emotionally charged, it delights in continually shifting focus from the sparse vocals that dominate the verse to the crushing, industrial-strength passages that serve as the chorus. It’s followed by the smoother Hey Amour, a slow burner that prefers to hint at the violence lurking beneath the surface rather than allow it to fully break free. The resultant track is two parts Chemical Brothers (circa Hey Boy, Hey Girl), to one part NIN, and it keeps you poised on the edge of your seat waiting to see how it will unfold.
The first half of the album wraps up with the lengthy Blackwater, a wonderfully enigmatic track that envelops the listener within surprisingly warm electronica and shimmering guitar noise before exploding into pointed shards of overdriven bass and heavily processed drums. With the verses drenched in psychedelic elements that nod to the likes of Sons of Silver via Bruce Springsteen and The Doors, it’s a truly remarkable piece of music, and it showcases the immense skill of the band’s arrangements.
Opening the second half of the album, Tu En Ami Du Temps finds The Young Gods mutating once again, offering up a French language take on trip hop that draws as much from DJ Shadow as it does from Ghosts-ere Nine Inch Nails. Filled with stuttering noise and underpinned by a slinky little bassline, there’s a depth and quality to the arrangement that is incredibly immersive and, when the guitars do remind us of their presence, it is with a razor-sharp edge that cuts right to the bone. In contrast, the beautiful Intertidal finds Franz Treichler’s vocals nestled amidst a soft bed of electronic ambience and hazy, neo-psyche guitars. With crisp drums and astringent leads providing a glitchy, post-rock climax, it’s a masterpiece of tightly controlled intensity, paving the way for the sinister pulse of Mes Yeaux De Tous. Faster paced and led by a Harold Faltermeyer synth, it’s sat somewhere between 80s action movie scoring and Depeche Mode, providing a dark shot of adrenaline.
Keeping things moving briskly along, Shine That Drone kicks off with a synth line so dirty you’ll need a shower, only to splinter off into heavy alt-rock territory, the grinding guitars kept only loosely in check by the tightly wound percussion. With the album at its end, the band have one last dark message to impart in the form of Off The Radar. Driven by inventive percussion and overlaid with eerie bursts of noise, it’s a suitably evocative finale that conjures images of dimply lit clubs, packed with sweaty, undulating bodies lost in a haze of smoke and cheap liquor. With Franz whispering in your ear, the song wraps up as the synths take over completely, obliterating the organic elements before the whole thing collapses in upon itself.
Appear Disappear is an incredible album. One of those records that is so beautifully produced that it takes several listens before you can separate the quality of the sound from the quality of the song writing, it’s richly textured and deeply immersive. Fortunately, the band match the production with ten varied and brilliantly arranged songs, any one of which could easily be the highlight.With such depth, you never hear the same piece the same way twice, and it’s an album that absolutely repays repeated listens.
Imaginative, diverse, and utterly original, Appear Disappear is a magnificent work that deserves to ride high in album of the year lists come December. An album to lose yourself within, The Young Gods have captured something truly special here. 10/10
