The Disraelis - Demonstration EP

So we're all familiar with how much I love the shoegaze, aren't we? Many bands have caught my attention over the last couple of years that easily fall into that category, and now we can add Toronto's The Disraelis to that list.

The Disarelis are Cameron Jingles, Colin Bowers and Dave Barnes, and they understand exactly what is takes to create that stellar psych / shoegaze sound. The ringing guitars contain just the right measure of distortion to make it sound interesting without ever hiding the melody away for extra effect. Cameron's vocals are almost lazy, giving off the impression that very little effort was made to sound cool, and that adds a whole other level of intrigue to their sound.

I hear traces of Joy Division in the raw vocals, and of Stone Roses in the guitar based delivery, and this first EP is a must have as far as I'm concerned. It starts with The Bitter Ash, where he vocalizes that "the bitter ash tastes the same but I still want more." It is an example of what I would consider to be an instant classic. In fact, listening to this song makes me feel as if I must've heard it before in my teens, because it instantly takes me back to being that angst fueled youth that honestly had no reason to be angsty at all. The opening riff from In Memory is reminiscent of U2 circa Boy, or the self proclaimed punk years, while the melody is straight out of a John Hughes movie, but in a good way. Blackmail is sung and performed with reckless immediacy. David Barnes' drums are particularly immediate, especially during the last half of the song, providing a masterful enrichment to Jingles' declaration that "This Is Blackmail!!!" You can almost sense the look in his penetrating glare as he sings that he "knows how it feels, feeling old, feeling sad, feeling cold, feeling pain that you don't know." Distance has a bit of a harder edge to it, and the backing vocals create a sonic timbre that fills things in nicely. On Earth is epic, and all I can do is encourage you to listen to it.

The Disarelis are a band that MTV would love to corrupt and make crappy, in much the same way as they did with bands like Interpol. Thankfully this band seems genuinely not interested. And that interests me, as it likely will others who come across their music.

The Disraelis have a CD Release show with The Hoa Hoa's at Sneaky Dee's on Saturday July 12th.

Photo by Sonya Surbek
Myspace: The Disarelis