The Dissociatives (album)

Background

Daniel Johns and Australian dance music producer Paul Mac met when Paul Mac remixed the Silverchair song "Freak" off the Freak Show album. The two worked on the experimental I Can't Believe It's Not Rock EP released in 2000.

Recording and production

In mid-2003, Daniel Johns and Paul Mac got together to produce the album that would become The Dissociatives, recording the basic tracks in London and finishing it off in Sydney and Newcastle. The pair produced all the instrumental tracks and vocals themselves with Johns writing the lyrics and recording them in Newcastle.

The pair described the music and lyrics in the April 2004 Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine: "The music is, for me, a combination of excitement, happiness, rambunctiousness and vicaciousness, done to whimsy," Johns said. "I'd add with a hint of melancholy, but it's more outweighed by joy," added Mac. Rolling Stone Australia described the sound of the debut single as a "happy sort of Radiohead."

Release and reception

The Dissociatives was released on 4 April 2004, by record label Eleven. The album was released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions. "Somewhere Down The Barrel" entered the Australian Top 40 charts on debut on 15 March 2004 and was one of the five most played tracks on Australian radio in early March of that year. Given that Silverchair sold more albums in Australia in the 1990s than any other Australian artist, the debut album "the Dissociatives" was expected to be one of the best selling albums released in Australia when it was released on 5 April in that country.

Reception

The Dissociatives has received a generally positive critical reception.

A negative review came from Pitchfork, which wrote "Leftfield techno vet Paul Mac seems stale working away from a club-oriented context, but it's Johns who seems out of his depth. Maybe he can write a three-chord rock song, but here he under-sings, over-emotes, and writes melodies that spiral off in insane directions before ending up nowhere".

Track listing

All music written by Daniel Johns and Paul Mac; all lyrics written by Daniel Johns.

1. "We're Much Preferred Customers" – 5:46
2. "Somewhere Down the Barrel" – 4:39
3. "Horror with Eyeballs" – 4:45
4. "Lifting the Veil from the Braille" – 4:18
5. "Forever and a Day" – 4:49
6. "Thinking in Reverse" – 3:41
7. "Paris Circa 2007slash08" – 3:52
8. "Young Man, Old Man (You Ain't Better Than the Rest)" – 4:31
9. "Aaängry Megaphone Man" – 4:52
10. "Sleep Well Tonight" – 2:29
11. "Paris Circa 2007slash08" (Hermitude Remix) (Japan bonus track)

Awards and nominations

Release history

The album was released in various countries.