Guider

For Chicago quartet Disappears, there is only one way to drive: with the gas pedal mashed into the floorboard, speedometer redlined, vertebrae digging centipede patterns into the upholstery while your fingertips grip the steering wheel. Their objective is to think and move forward; they recorded Guider over the same tape reels used to make their debut, Lux. Many of the songs are variations on the theme of speed: “Halo” is bright and glorious, while “New Fast” is a funkier take. But the centerpiece is without a doubt the 15-minute anchor “Revisiting.” Propelled by a battery of crackling delayed guitars and resting on a 4/4 bedrock, it’s an evil soundtrack to a desert motorcycle race where narration drones in tune with the engine. Disappears fall in line with the best artists who adhere to one sound and find the many levels within their chosen idiom. That might seem a single-minded approach, but it works.