OBJECT PERMANENCE | THE ESSFO

EssFo New Music Reviews

January 2023

According to Elly Kace, "Disappear" is the result of trying to trace where her mind goes during meditation. It's unassumingly psychedelic: after about a dozen listens I began to see that picture of her holding the tray and think, whatever's baked into those cookies is *not* for kids.

Suitably, the song opens with a nod to "Wish You Were Here," but as an accompaniment to "White Rabbit." Kace, who's a renowned opera singer, eases out words as if she's about to open a curtain and you're going to be terrified. But what unfolds is a densely layered Kace choir that recalls Björk and Julia Holter: "Isn't it nice?" The curtain closes again, but not for long. It reopens and for more than 2 minutes we're treated to glistening, cascading voices: for each one that disappears, another arrives in its place.