It starts off not unlike many post-punk standards of the day – drums first. The snare pops and the kick-drum fills the bottom end, with the sibilant high-hat coming in later with the bass. But for a whole measure the off-kilter drum beat alone, with its dueling double strokes of snare and kick-drum, has been edging you toward something dystopian.
When the bass comes in it catches you off guard: it sounds too high to be a bass and too low to be a guitar. That’s because the opening note is played an octave higher. And even though the rest of the bass-line is played at a lower register it never truly leaves the foreground.
The guitar’s dissonant melody, produced by individually playing the notes of a single chord, bleeds onto the rest of the track like radio signals that have crossed and happen to compliment each other. The guitar’s staticky melody never turns into a rhythm section. It remains a floating wave of distortion for the vocals to sing over.
As always Ian Curtis’s baritone strikes me, at first, a little absurd. His intonation and subtle use of vibrato sound like the sermonizing of a high priest at a pagan ceremony. But just as quickly his voice sounds like an extension of the music, as do his lyrics.
The lyrics discuss a derangement of the mind and senses. As a result the narrator is experiencing new sensations which he is unable to identify. They open the possibilities of new modes of experiencing, which he finds unsettling because while these sensations are foreign to him, he believes they are common to other men, normal men. He attempts to run from these feelings even as he tries to make sense of them. He finally accepts them as being in possession of a spirit and denounces any culpability. Accepting this spirit,however, doesn’t bring him any peace because the feeling, whether physical or intellectual, still disturbs him.
Few songs are capable of accomplishing what Disorder does, being thoroughly engaging without having a chorus. There is nothing to sing along to in the chorus, no turn of phrase that either plays on an existing sentiment or brings a new one into existence. Instead the chorus is a two part single-stringed solo that selectively brutalizes specific notes with a bend so intense it sounds like a different note altogether. Something about the effect is so satisfying it’s like scratching an itch in the hollow of my ear. Add to this the interplay of an erratic bass-line under the guitar solo and Disorder is a simplistic masterpiece that must be listened to repeatedly in order to fully appreciate how each instrument contributes to the overall experience of the song.
