To Relate To

Vinyl with risograph-printed accordion-fold lyric zine.Rewind as you might, but your ears didn’t deceive you: there is an Ed Sheeran reference in a Discus song. The lyrics of “On Tour” reveal the narrator to be a projected, mid-interview version of the English popstar himself – but here, he’s cast as a celebrity haunted by his own ubiquity: “In love with the shape of you / That was such a major tune — but it’s hard to escape.” It’s an unexpected premise to hang Discus’ breezy indie rock on, but in many ways it’s a proof of concept for To Relate To, the Chicago quintet’s sophomore LP. Borne from the recognition that almost any moment can serve as a touchstone for understanding, the record is a collection of exercises harnessing the band’s dauntless curiosity to uncover a means of connection in unlikely places. The more far-flung the character study, the more hard-won the truth at its center — and the greater chance of catching one’s own reflection unawares. Discus grew out of a long-kept creative partnership between Jake and Paul Stolz, who share ranks in a handful of other projects – namely Pool Holograph, Varsity, and Central Heat Exchange. As Discus, they render immaculately considered musical worlds – reminiscent of golden-era oughts indie of The Radio Dept, Broadcast, and the American Analog Set – and upset their balance with calculated moments of unease. After all: projection is tricky work, memories are unreliable — the simulation tends to flicker – and thus Discus’ dreamlike atmospheres are always bordered with the uncanny. — Caleb Cordes