* PREORDER * FACS - Wish Defense LP (colour vinyl)

* PREORDER * expected to arrive late April

Limited edition white vinyl. Black wax also available.

Highly recommended (store favourites in fact! As is Disappears...)

"Ever evolving, FACS have returned to their original line-up of Brian Case, Jonathan Van Herik, and Noah Leger, who recorded their debut album, Negative Houses after their previous band, Disappears, disbanded. There has been a switch-up in their approach, however, as Case and Van Herik swapped their respective guitar and bass roles, giving FACS a new dynamic for writing and recording Wish Defense. Notably, Wish Defense is also the last album recorded and engineered by Steve Albini prior to his untimely death. The engineering was finished by Electric Audio’s Sanford Parker and mixed by John Congleton using Albini’s notes and analog tape.

This switch-up created a new-ish sound for FACS, blending all of the elements of the band’s previous albums while harkening back to Negative Houses and Case’s earlier band, 90 Day Men (who recently had a reissue box set released on Numero Group). The result is less dub influence, but maintains the atmospheric palette the band has developed over their career. It feels more minimal, but FACS are too mathy and textured to be considered a minimalist act. “Talking Haunted” kicks off the album with a Joy Division-inspired sound, stripped down and somber, while later tracks like “A Room” showcase more dynamic drumming and building guitars that transition from angular jaggedness into lush repetition. Fuzz bass and reverb touched guitars carry “Sometimes Only” into ballad territory were it not for Case’s sung-spoken vocals and Leger’s complex rhythms.

These core musical elements wax and wan in different pulses throughout the album, demonstrating the black and white checkered cover art and the theme of duality between post-punk’s anxious energy and the ethereal qualities of shoegaze and goth music." - Everything Is Noise