ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Disq

Photo by Daniel Topete

This week’s artist of the week goes to Disq.

Composed of Isaac deBroux-Slone, Raina Bock, Logan Severson, Shannon Conor, and Stu Manley, the Wisconsin-based musicians have been making music together since 2016, but Bock and deBroux-Slone have been friends since middle school. Disq’s discography includes two full-length records, 2020’s Collector and 2022’s Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet. Across both of the albums, Disq’s expansive soundscape refuses to be pigeonholed into one specific genre, but I pick up on elements of garage rock, 90’s Britpop, and psych rock. You know how some bands just have that distinct sound that you immediately recognize one of their songs when it comes on? Well, Disq isn’t one of those bands—they constantly surprise me as I listen to their material. If you’re a fan of Post Animal, Dehd, or Wednesday, I’d suggest giving Disq a spin as well.

Disq’s smorgasbord of musical influences likely stems from their unique formation and collaborative nature—on their sophomore album that was just released this past October via Saddle Creek records, Logan Severson and Shannon Conor branched out from their roles of guitarist to share songwriting and singing duties with deBroux-Slone and Bock. The album included singles like “If Only” and “The Hardest Part,” the former of which deBroux-Slone describes as being a song to listen to when there’s confusion about someone’s intent in a relationship, and the goal of the song’s sound was to stir up plenty of nostalgia. “The feeling of the song is longing and I thought some of the wistful chords and moods from the plethora of ‘90s and 2000's indie I'd been listening to at the time would fit just right, so I pulled those influences in,” he says. The latter track was one of the contributions from Severson, which he says originated years ago with the riff and melody, before the lyrics finally and suddenly came to him one night. “Because I just let the words come to me, I don’t know exactly what the song is about, but I can feel what the song is about and it holds deep meaning to me. I’m still in the process of understanding what I was trying to tell myself when I wrote it,” he adds.

Disq will be touring this fall with Shame, but if you’re in Chicago and want to catch them sooner, they’ll be at Sleeping Village on April 20th. See all of their tour dates here, and watch the video for “The Hardest Part” below.