Archive Review: Disappear Fear's Deep Soul Diver & Live At The Bottom Line (1995)

I remember – it was a couple of years ago – I was digging through a crate of CDs that a local radio station I was affiliated with at the time was going to get rid of. I grabbed a dozen or so promising discs and raced home for an extended listening session. Many of those free discs ended up being reviewed in the early issues of this rag. One CD that I had picked out, to be truthful, entirely on the strength of the unknown band’s name – Disappear Fear – proved to be the best of the lot.

Subsequently, in the September 1993 issue of R.A.D!, this humble scribe wrote of Disappear Fear’s self-produced Live At The Bottom Line disc: “this incredibly talented duo move miles beyond the folk-influenced singer/songwriter vein in introducing songs that are as intense, personal and damn beautiful as any this critic as ever heard.” I continued to wax effusive about the duo of Cindy Frank and Sonia Rutstein: “songwriter Sonia’s Byronesque lyrics speak to the romantic hidden in every listener, masterfully describing the longings of the heart.” After quoting a few of Rutstein’s wonderful lyrics, I closed the review by saying “these songs present classic observations on love and relationships from a charismatic duo who, hopefully, have a lengthy and successful career in store for them.”

After listening to Philo/Rounder’s reissue of the album, with songs recorded in 1990 and 1991, as well as the previously unavailable track “Long Long Way To Go,” I stand by what I previously wrote and gladly add to my praise of Disappear Fear. They are an immensely talented pair, bringing to their material an intelligence and sensitivity that surpasses even the usual high standard for the folk / rock genre. Philo picked up the band a year or so ago, releasing an equally excellent new collection of tunes titled simply Disappear Fear. Just a few months ago the label reissued Live At The Bottom Line and the duo’s impressive 1989 debut album, Deep Soul Diver. Few of the songs from Deep Soul Diver are revisited on the live disc, allowing the material on this debut to stand on its own. The disc is an artistic triumph, the accumulation of years of songwriting and performing. Frank and Rutstein sound incredibly mature for a recorded debut, their beautiful harmonies and casual performances belying their tender ages.

I was lucky enough to see Disappear Fear play last summer at Nashville’s annual Summer Lights Festival, where I witnessed a phenomena I’ve seen only a few times during this critic’s existence. The duo drew an enormous crowd, exceptional, really, considering that they were one of a handful of out-of-town acts among the hundred or so scheduled performers on several outdoor stages. Quite a few members of the audience obviously had been following the band from town to town on their tour, and more than a few folks knew enough about the band and their material (only one album in print at this time, you must remember) to sing along with the pair’s electric performance. Disappear Fear rocked downtown Nashville that night, reaffirming what I had written almost a full year earlier: they definitely have a lengthy and considerable career ahead of them. (Philo/Rounder Records, reissued 1995)

Review originally published by R.A.D! (Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll) zine