FACS - Wish Defense

 

Chicago trio FACS return with sixth studio album from Trouble In Mind on February 7th

FACS are unlike any band you would have heard of before. They remain an enigmatic threesome who have garnered a cult following since the release of Void Moments in March 2020, when the world took a turn.

That album was an insular one, and one whose lyrical content coupled with that throbbing basslines and persistent drums along with a vocal of insolence. Yet it is still able to connect due to the musicianship on display by Brian Case (vocals), Jonathan Van Herik (original returning member on bass) and Noah Leger on drums.

Case, the main writer, states that this album revolves around the idea of doppelgangers or doubles, in a sense FACS are holding a mirror up to themselves to make tackle yourself and what motivations lie ahead.

Second track 'Ordinary Voices' is one that is familiar in the FACS form; pulsating and unrelenting in its message, which is quickly followed by title track 'Wish Defense' which has this ear worm of a bass line at the outset, culminating in the shout 'I'm not here' on repeat as a chorus. It is not so much disillusionment they are trying to sell, they can see the listener and can relate.

 

Track four, 'A Room' is an archetypal wall of sound number, with Case's vocals merely being held up by the roaring sound being created.

While it may not reach the heights or lightning in the bottle of Void or the follow up Present Tense (2021), this nevertheless remains a supreme statement of art by a band who are firing on all cylinders. This sort of album gives you hope that when given a chance a band can still be heard.

At seven songs in length and thirty minutes in runtime, this is still a curated piece of production helmed by the late Steve Albini, in his last professional work.

Wish Defense is released from Trouble in Mind on February 7th

My thanks to them and OneBeat PR for the review opportunity.

FACS - Still Life in Decay

 

New album from Chicago trio FACS out 7th April via Trouble in Mind

When the world was on lockdown, there was the opportunity to catch up on cultural aspects you missed but also a chance for discovery. In this role as a mild-mannered music reviewer, you get sent links to all sorts of musical genres and it is very hard on occasion to weave out of your lane and yet the chance came to review a three-piece from Chicago that were definitely not on my radar. This band was FACS encompassing guitarist Brian Case, bassist Alianna Kalaba and drummer Noah Leger. 

The album from 2020 was Void Moments and for this writer, it was a touchstone and portal for those times in lockdown - an album of ferocity and anger that spoke to me as this writer dealt with the boredom of lockdown and not seeing friends. FACS' brand of intense and post-punk noise was a calling card to me and yet a band that cleverly spoke more to me than an acoustic guitar.

After Void Moments came 2021's Present Tense, a quick follow-up to that pandemic album that sustained their growth as a band with buzzy feedback aplenty and Cage's lyrics again struggling to make sense of the world.

The new album Still Life in Decay is possibly the final swansong for the threesome as Kalaba seeks pastures new, yet the rhythm and unity of the band is still paramount, their tightness again only growing to this resounding maelstrom of disquiet. FACS are a loud band but are capable of such quiet moments of reflection amidst the undoubted sensory overload.

Opening track 'Constellation' is indicative - Cage's vocals burst out of the gate and then quickly recede to the pulsating bass and drum dance that Kalaba and Leger create. 'When You Say' is a call to arms of making sense of the world. 'Slogan' is about watching someone change which is a theme running through the album. 

As Brain Case explains: 'change...how that's seen from different people's perspectives. 'Still Life In Decay' is about that kind of change, realizing that relationships exist in different ways for individuals in shared situations, and how you navigate that as a unit. We knew when we were making this record that Alianna was going to be stepping away from the band, which of course heavily informed the sessions. Filled with deep understanding and love, but still those insecurities and feelings of loss, or an end of something. Despite that, 'Still Life In Decay' feels more like a beginning, it's tense and vulnerable in a way we haven't presented ourselves before. I'm so proud of what the three of us did with this album.'

The album is akin to a ghostly presence with this aura of transformation abounding, drifting past you but maintaining a lingering presence throughout, there is something earthly and yet other-worldy about the album as a whole. A journey of anxiety and white noise and with a gripping energy throughout.

Still Life in Decay is out from Trouble in Mind on 7th April

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity

Sen Morimoto - Self-title LP Review

 

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Sen Morimoto releases his self-titled second album from Sooper Records on October 23rd.

This album is much anticipated and comes on the back of much fanfare from the much touted Morimoto, who remains much of an enigma on this side of the Atlantic.

Living in Chicago, Morimoto is a producer, rapper and while not necessarily a jack of all he is definitely a master of collaboration using label mates and friends from the Chicago indie label scene such as Lala Lala, NNAMDI, KAINA, Qari and Japanese electronic artist AAAMYYY.

Morimoto has been a busy person since releasing his debut album in 2018 and touring the world, as well as being a member of Chicago jazz collective, Resavoir and being musical producer of Kaina's breakout Next To The Sun and becoming part owner of Sooper Record Label, his own label on which this record is released.

Morimoto uses a wide array of musical genres and influences across this sumptuous and kaleidoscopic release evidenced in the single Woof which has a 60s jingle jangle guitar riff which harks back to Beatles cast offs, his voice is velvety over the production meaning this is not only a pleasing artist to listen to but he is also accessible due to his variety.

Perhaps the man himself can explain the concept of the album better: “Thematically, the album explores self-examination–the way reality breaks the distortion of subjective experience. Focusing on minutia, the album highlights the ways that our learned habits, such as shameful desires and righteous ideals, are inherited by everyday motions of modern American life. The grotesque and ignored emerging in dreams, begin to inform a cruel reality. Touring through a world on a wire, my dreams, in harrowing vibrant color, began to cross the threshold into my waking life. My self-titled album comes as a statement from somewhere in between those two worlds.”

Morimoto has shot for the moon with this album, an album of ambition married with unlimited potential has become one of this year's best albums. An album that comes along once in a while that becomes one of constant repeat plays in coffee houses and bars (when we can frequent them), this is helped by being not merely one of Morimoto's ability but in this day and age of a world becoming smaller an album of collaboration - he is cleverly using his platform as the opportunity to give that same platform to artists to gain access to the mainstream such as those mentioned before. Their parts are not throwaways but vital calling cards for the song and themselves.

At times hypnotic, at times intellectual at times flat out fun and funky; there will be something for everyone on this album ranging from cool chillout (The Box), electronic harmony (Goosebumps), chic rap (Daytime But Darker) to far out RnB (Jupiter) with a spaced out twist.

Sen Morimoto has given the world an album about the world and all the people in it, from all corners and how their voices can become one when given a chance to be heard.

Sen Morimoto is out from Sooper Records on October 23rd.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.