Lion, Meet Lizard – Disappear Here (2015)

Lion, Meet Lizard and Readers, meet Disappear Here. As terrible as that was, the album is not, being the first full length release from this one-man solo project it has an almost unparalleled listenability and successfully draws influence from a wide range of genres.

From the offset there is a presentation of skillful layering that encompasses several diverse patterns into one big wave of ordered chaos. The peppy guitar techniques used on the first and third track especially bring to mind the very early Foals albums, and a fago.sepia type enthusiasm. This is complimented by repetitive hooks that would sound completely at home in seemingly any situation but would probably induce a trance-like state when played live.

The humble opening track, ‘Julian Is Dead’, gives way to a host of deeply emotional soundscapes that rely on instrumentation to relay their message. The title track itself is a curious piece of music that exudes a subtle vibe of hope and triumph, a defiant leap across the album that presents itself in various forms throughout. Tracks like ‘Trust No One’ possess a reflective quality that only very slightly misses the ‘meditation music’ mark, whereas ‘Saratt’ incorporates hip hop beats that plant the mood firmly in summer festival mode. This variation is done with maturity; no single track sounds isolated, but no two tracks sound the same. The echoic beats coupled with intermittent ethereal vocalizations are reminiscent of a sleepy Black Moth Super Rainbow but infinitely less creepy. There are also some evident indie influences, exhibited most clearly in ‘Kyoto’, which combines swelling synths with loose beats and a joyful delayed guitar. The closer, ‘This is Not an Exit’, succeeds in making up for its obvious misnomer with a beautiful encapsulation of the album. The neat conclusion at the end of a flawless essay. It also winds Disappear Here down, bringing the triumph and emotion to a slow fade.

As a whole, the album could almost be used in any setting. It could be sleeping music or dancing music, the use completely depends on the listener and their interpretation of the emotions within.