The Dissociatives - Live Review

05 April 2005

The Dissociatives

In The Oxford Dictionary a dissociated personality (in Psychological terms)is the pathological coexistence of two or more distinct personalities in the same person.

This description goes a long way in defining The Dissociative’s style of music. What begins with a promising, up-tempo dance vibe on “We’re much preferred customers” turns in to an amalgamation of conflicting sounds that don’t belong on the same album. On one

hand you have the pounding presto beats, light-hearted piano and earthy bass of “Paris circa 2007/08”, summoning an electronic image of the French Capital (a homage to Daft Punk?), while on the other you have the Blur-esque whining of Young Man, Old Man, more reminiscent of a English country house.

This peculiar dichotomy of styles doubtless reflects the contrasting personalities of this pair of Australian Dissociatives. Daniel Johns comes from a Rock background having toured with the Chillis after his band ‘Silverchair’ hit the big time in the mid 90’s and reached the US top 10.

Paul Mac is one of the leading figures in the history of Australian electronic music. His work with underground dance pioneers including Itchee & Scratchee, The Lab, and Boo Boo & Mace, has seen him spend over a decade at the vanguard of Australian club culture.

The clumsily abrupt ending of penultimate track “Aaangry Megaphone Man” does little to set up the final track “Sleep Well Tonight.” But this swift ending does bring The Dissociatives’ album to a healthy close with the message that dreams have meaning. “Some foolish man dreamt that dreams have no meaning.”

The Dissociatives are destined to be an underground undergraduate favourite.

Dissociation /disosiaysh’n, -shiaysh’n/ n.1 the act of or an instance of dissociating. 2 Psychol. The state of suffering from dissociated personality.

http://www.thedissociatives.com

Alex Mula