Disco Doom

Disco Doom – the Switzerland-based band led by Anita Rufer and Gabriele De Mario – present a new single, “Patrik,” from Mt. Surreal, their first new album in 8 years out September 16th on Exploding in Sound. “Patrik” opens with a siren-like note, giving way to glitching synth and resounding percussion. De Mario’s vocals are urgent over white hot guitar: “I hear this new sound // distracted and so beautiful // eject this tape // replace, memories, in the future.” It puts Disco Doom’s keen ear for intricate, juxtaposing rhythms and sonics at the forefront. “The song was written and arranged directly in the studio. Its immediate recording was important to us to not lose that nervous feeling which we were fascinated by,” says Disco Doom. “We wanted to keep the freshness of the new idea in the recording.”

Rufer and De Mario began working on Mt. Surreal back in 2018, with the final version worked on from 2019 until late 2020. Though Disco Doom are indeed a four-piece – with Mario Kummer taking up drum duties during the recording of the album, and Mathias Vetter joining as their bass player in early 2021 – the recording was characterized by the work Rufer and De Mario concocted together, as a duo, making the very most of what lay around them, exploring what they could do with their guitars. Initially, Rufer and De Mario recorded with the band in a studio in France, but those sessions didn’t feel quite right and were scrapped, a learning experience which would eventually go on to shape the entire record.

The resulting album is brimming with frayed guitar, intricate rhythms, compelling vocals, and fidgety percussion. As presented in its first two singles, “Mt. Surreal” and “Rogue Wave,” its sprawling composition is one you can get lost in – a strange and peculiar journey that’ll wrap you up deep inside its intoxicating world, where lyrics leap out at odd moments, where a hook grabs just when the whole thing threatens to combust. Across the record, there’s an endless swaying between light and dark, form and formlessness. The songs shift between direct passages and then burrow their way into exploratory, experimental rabbit holes. Mt. Surreal offers an exhilarating ride, as well as an ambiguous look at society, touching upon themes of nostalgia and detachment in this strange new world we currently encounter.