A sense of old and new Augie March patters through “Watch Me Disappear”. Nostalgic, in the sense that tracks like “The Glenorchy Bunyip” touch on the slight country rockabilly that infiltrated the band’s early career. This isn’t what “Watch Me Disappear” is about really as you can only hear homages on one or two tracks. What we see here is a band is transition mode.
The dominant part of this album though is a sound which is a shift towards an upbeat / twee indie pop sound. “The Devil In Me” and “Pennywhistle” showcasing this to a plum. While I don’t know if this is either a right or wrong turn for the band, I sense that Glenn Richards and co are testing the waters a bit.
Few people in the world write an old-fashioned ballad the way that Richards does however. “Dogsday” proves this and could surely be the “There Is No Such Place” of this album. It’s music for swooning to and would suit perfectly to that situation where you’re longing for that loved one who you have been trying to catch the attention of.
With “Watch Me Disappear”, Augie March are intent to explore varying styles which could be a good thing for a band (it could go either way for the Augie March fan though). Whether or not this approach will bring them another “One Crowded Hour” is yet to be seen, but with lovelorn tracks like “Dogsday” and what sounds like something of a future single in “Becoming Bryn”, you can never know.
