Track by track: Autobahn come through with forward-thinking post-punk and strong songwriting on debut LP 'Dissemble'

Autobahn first came to my attention when they took to the stage at Manchester's Sound Control late last year on the final night of their tour with fellow Leeds band Eagulls. Despite its name, Sound Control is a venue that almost always has depressingly awful sound engineering which is often bad enough to completely ruin sets or force bands to end early. Autobahn, however, smashed through a 30 minute set with haunting post-punk so encapsulating that the fact that their drums were too quiet and guitars had too little reverb was almost unnoticeable, the room was completely and utterly transfixed. Here's our track by track review of their debut LP 'Dissemble'.

Missing in Action: The record begins with machine-like drums driving their way to the top of their mix and increasing in intensity before giving way to heavily reverbed guitars as Craig Johnson begins firing off visceral couplets, the track comes in at well under 3 minutes, and is the perfect no-nonsense mission statement.

Immaterial Man: The guitars have barely recovered from the opening track when their feedback becomes masked by a wonderfully simple bassline that Peter Hook would kill for. Autobahn begin to pace themselves a little more on the second cut, it manifests itself inside your head rather than hitting you like a train as the opener does.

Impressionist: You'd be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to a Television record for the first 30 seconds here, that is until a manic vocal melody cuts through with devastating guitars, before Autobahn hit their melodic stride later in their track with their most euphoric sound yet.

Beautiful Place to Die: One of the best singles of 2015, Beautiful Place To Die serves to highlight just how far Autobahn have come as songwriters. Their first EP '1' was manic, pulsating and immediate. This track showcases their ability to flesh out a punk song, with ever-changing rhythm sections and a completely killer chorus which doesn't come close to sacrificing the darkness of their sound. 

Dissemble: If you're to consider this a post-punk record, then the title track is a bit of an oddball. A soundscape of feedback plays under a scarce, bewildering monologue. It sort of sounds like 'Beautiful Place To Die' played backwards and slowed down, a wonderful sonic exploration. 

Society: Another track initially carried forward by an industrial sounding bassline, before simplistic guitars take the reign, the perfect halfway point between a great radio single and a noisy post-punk song.

Ostentation: The poetically articulated paranoia of Bauhaus hand in hand with the frantic experimental guitar work of Sonic Youth, frontman Craig Johnson sounds at his most disgruntled in a track that you could only imagine being incredibly intimidating live.

Passion: At this point, Autobahn step away completely from a slow-burning intense songwriting formula that has worked so well for them on the rest of the album. 'Passion' is a staggered,  frantic, and incredibly well-written track that sees any comparisons to fellow Leeds punks Eagulls thrown out of the window. 

Suicide Saturday: A five minute spat of dark, direct poetry over a harrowing wall of noise that Autobahn seem to create effortlessly. "The rain keeps beating down/it soaks through your skin/not enough to downed away" Johnson croons over a menacing noisy experimentation.

Deprivation: The loud, echoey guitar sound, forbidding post-punk vocals, mechanic drumming and pulsating basslines that 'Dissemble' offers all come together to make a complete masterpiece of an album closer. A crescendo of the darkest kind.

A nod towards the greater post-punk bands of the late 1970's, whilst marching into a new exciting sonic territory at the dead of night. 

17.5/20 

by Marty Hill