Disappears initially sounds like a garage-rock band inexplicably trapped inside a stealth aircraft. Even more than last year’s debut, Lux, the new Guider seems too shadowy and sleek to figure out quickly. Disappears uses a lot of reverb and delay—too much for most bands—but applies the effects with a relentlessly slop-free touch. Each time a guitar bounces off the echo-dome on “New Fast,” it’s as crisp and curt as a board karate-chopped in half. The band’s songwriting has its share of contradictions too: The more it keeps building around one simple pattern (and that’s a lot on the 15-minute “Revisiting”), the more high-functioning it becomes.
Their icy discipline is deceptive, and it’s fun to realize that Disappears’ “minimalism” is really obsession stretched to the breaking point, but held in check. On the title track, a jumpy bass run gives this line a tinge of sickly titillation: “Do you ever watch anyone when they think they’re alone?” Guider invites listeners’ touch with its seductively rounded edges, but sends them away with skinned fingertips.