Three members of the Madison band discuss their breakout album and expanding into a five-piece.
Photo by Meghan Vieth.
As part of the 2020 Social Justice Center Jubilee in June, we caught up via videochat with Madison band Disq, who released their second album, Collector, this March on Saddle Creek Records. Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock initially formed the band as a duo, releasing the album Disq I in 2016, but Disq eventually blossomed into a five-piece that expanded the project’s early promise into a widescreen blast of sharp guitars and wistful melodies. Collector wraps the perspectives of five songwriters and arrangers—deBroux-Slone, Bock, guitarist Shannon Connor, guitarist Logan Severson, and drummer Brendan Manley—into a set of 10 wide-ranging yet cohesive songs.
“Collector offers a fascinating amalgam of several indie rock and slacker punk hallmarks without an inch of irony or detachment, a move that heightens the record’s cumulative effect,” Tone Madison’s Steven Spoerl wrote earlier this year. A lot of these songs bristle with frustration and sarcasm—especially “Daily Routine,” “I Wanna Die,” and “Gentle”—yet they never come off as callow or checked-out.
For this video interview, we were able to get three-fifths of the band together: deBroux-Slone, Connor, and Severson. DeBroux-Slone called in from a kayak in the Upper Peninsula, so you’ll hear a lot of water sounds, which I personally find pleasant. The three reflected on the process of writing and arranging Collector, offered their perspectives on a pandemic dashing their big breakout year, and unpacked their songs’ balance of humor and vulnerability. Watch it here:
