| The Roosters - Dis |
| If
the Roosters' previous album "Insane" was a departure from the good
time rock 'n' roll of their early career, the followup "Dis" was a
complete detachment. Emphasis on "detachment," since the alienation and
fear that bubbled around the edges of the previous work comes out in
full bloom. "She Broke My Heart's Edge" sets the tone: bitter vocals are awash in disorienting reverb as the band darkly chugs along, falling somewhere between Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen's more ominous moments. When that track crashes into a repeated echo, "I'm Swayin' In The Air" does it's damndest to put on a happy face. "I'm Swayin' In The Air" is a definitive track, not just for The Roosters, but for 80s Japanese rock in general. On the surface, it's happy: chiming synths and brightly strummed acoustic guitars cushion vocalist Shinya Ohe's wounded vocals. Like Panta's similarly iconic "R•E•D," it's a brilliant, catchy, goosebump inducing song that compares favorably to contemporary Western pop like Modern English's "I Melt With You," or The Only One's "Another Girl Another Planet." It's when you dig deeper, make your way through the cloak of reverb and ice, that the wounded heart appears. It's a brilliant song, and still gets major play in between band DJ sets in Tokyo rock clubs. Next up is "She Made Me Cry," and it's every bit as melancholy as the title suggests. Ohe's vocals bring to mind Australian contemporaries Hoodoo Gurus, while a twangy, sad backing straight out of Echo and the Bunnymen's brilliant "Ocean Rain" tries its best to sooth the frayed nerves. It's about a painful breakup, Ohe sympathizing with his ex as he realizes he can't stay with her: "I think you'd better find some new romances I told you once, and I told you twice Love is everywhere and she made me cry." He leaves her at the seaside, singing in sorrow. Heavy stuff, and it shows how far the band had come from just a few years before, covering rockabilly hits and celebrating hedonist rock 'n' roll. "Sad Song" is just that, The Roosters' own "Killing Moon." But it's no match for the last track, "Je Suis Le Vent." A sad lullaby sways behind the voice of a child asking for his mother before Ohe resignedly speaks his way through the song. Given the emotional downer of the rest of the album (and keeping in mind Ohe's own deteriorating mental state at the time of recording,) it's more upsetting than relaxing. It's the sound of a soul in pain, rocking itself to sleep, with no assurance that everything will be OK. It concludes abruptly, fading out a moment too soon, leaving you hanging. There's a sort of resigned sadness to this album, the feel of a troubled soul too tired to be truly upset. It's certainly nothing to play to cheer yourself up, but there's an undeniable, wounded beauty in the nest of synths and twangy guitars. After this, The Roosters changed the last "s" to a "z" and followed the "I'm Swayin' In The Air" template, while vocalist Ohe left the band due to his mental state. "Dis" was their commercial high point, and was arguably an artistic one as well. Great stuff. |