A Closer Listen
Start with mid-period Sigur Rós, blend it with early Morr Music and múm, add a touch of Where the Wild Things Are and you’ve got Disiniblud, the brand new duo of Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith. The Sigur Rós comparison is intentional, as the video for the title track is an homage to “Gobbledigook.”
Disiniblud isn’t just a duo; guest stars abound and the set feels like a collaborative effort. The album creates a fantasy land in which everyone is welcome to frolic and play: no judgment, no questions asked. It has the look and feel of a benign fairy tale, which serves as an alternate universe; the imagination is where people may head to regain their energy in a hostile world. The sheer joy of the all-trans cast in “Disiniblud” is infectious; the voices heard in the track are drawn from across the album’s span, united for a common cause.
But there’s a long way to go before we reach that sonic peak. Juliana Barwick guest-stars on the album opener and early single, “Give-Upping,” which sounds like the opposite of its title; her voice pings and wanders, exploring the corners of the speakers, testing the boundaries, opening doors where doors need to be opened. When the keyboard patterns arrive, they raise the excitement level a notch; at 2:40, the entire project explodes in post-rock style. The multi-layered chimes of “Blue Rags, Raging Wind (ft. Amigone) extend the ebullience, the synth and strings cradling the percussion like a precious child. This track too has a tipping point (2:13) when a host of friends rush in to join the party. Fun fact: Amigone is Nina Keith!
“Serpentine (ft. Cassandra Croft)” shifts to sweet serenade, like a lullaby, a weaving, an incantation. The feeling is one of safety, of being understood and accepted. Then just as one begins to perceive the track as a ballad, sentences split into words, beats into patterns, and the entire world expands. June McDoom rides softly through the subsequent piece, adrift in reverie, a pleasant daydream, a vision of an alternate world. [it could happen], the duo dreams; the non-specific pronoun implies that anything could happen, or already has.
The atmosphere turns reflective as ASPIDISTRAFLY enters the frame, with soft piano and strings offering solace and comfort. The track is like a blanket being wrapped around a child, warm and tucked in, ready for a bedtime story. When the album reaches the title track, it is ready for its wild rumpus. Wisps of voice and fragments of song dance through a sonic forest, calling all animals to come out and play. As the video indicates, this need not be a dream; three are treasured glades in real life where people feel free to be themselves, their inner children smiling through adult eyes.
Tujiko Noriko draws the curtain shut on “My flickering gift to you,” as if to say, let your imagination run wild. Disiniblud’s album is a pocket of joy, filled with marbles and jacks and wind-up toys. Like the best fairy tales, it’s one that fans will be happy to return to again and again. (Richard Allen)
Fri Jul 18 00:01:42 GMT 2025