Disappeared

• Artist: Spring Heel Jack
• Rating:
• Release Date: August 22, 2000
• Genre: Electronica

Review

Disappeared is the sound of drum'n'bass dissected, blended with a spy movie score, and given the acidic, demonic twist of a carnival sideshow. It's also Spring Heel Jack's best album. It's no surprise that the album draws comparisons to John Barry film scores, as Spring Heel Jack seems to consist of card-carrying members of a 007 fan club, but they pull out all the stops here, producing muscular spy movie music that seems extracted from Hades itself. Devastating, bleak, and intensely powerful melodies wail and storm, jazzy fuzz-box jungle notes twist in the air, and trumpets seem to assert that the forces of darkness have been let loose. Ambient noodlings and screeches cause tension and chills. "Mit Wut" is ominous and fierce big-band electronica. Sci-fi alarms ring out on "Galina." One wonders if the music is meant to be industrial-dance-jazz or meant to conjure a techno-spy-stompfest. Unlike the music of spy aficionado Squarepusher, there's little whimsy in these 11 songs. While big beat leanings occasionally crop up, as on "I Undid Myself," the tone of the album remains relentlessly, compellingly bleak. There are moments when the duo seems to strive for chill-out vibes and when evocative violins inject grace and beauty, but the album never gives up the tinkered madness at its base. "Wolfing" concludes the album perfectly, raging aggressively like a massive steam train headed toward oblivion. Noisy, stark, and brimming with inventive, confused electronics, Disappeared is Spring Heel Jack's masterwork. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Rachel Point	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(6:31)
Mit Wut	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(7:06)
Disappeared 1	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(6:14)
Bane	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(4:34)
Galina	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(7:14)
Trouble and Luck	Graham Coxon, Ashley Wales	Spring Heel Jack	(5:49)
I Undid Myself	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(4:25)
Lester	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(1:30)
To Die a Little	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(3:14)
Disappeared 2	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(4:59)
Wolfing	Ashley Wales, John Coxon	Spring Heel Jack	(5:30)

Credits

John Surman (Clarinet (Bass)), Ashley Wales (Producer), Ashley Wales (Performer), John Coxon (Producer), John Coxon (Performer), Spring Heel Jack (Producer), Spring Heel Jack (Main Performer)

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