Pre-order of Wish Defense. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
Purchasable with gift card
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
releases February 7, 2025
$7USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
The white vinyl version of "Wish Defense" comes housed in a black & white jacket, and includes an insert.
Includes digital pre-order of Wish Defense.
You get 1 track now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
shipping out on or around February 7, 2025
Purchasable with gift card
$18USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
The black vinyl version of "Wish Defense" comes housed in a black & white jacket, and includes an insert.
Includes digital pre-order of Wish Defense.
You get 1 track now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
shipping out on or around February 7, 2025
Purchasable with gift card
$17USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes digital pre-order of Wish Defense.
You get 1 track now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
shipping out on or around February 7, 2025
Purchasable with gift card
$10USDor more
Cassette + Digital Album
White tape shell with black print, housed in a clear cassette case.
Includes digital pre-order of Wish Defense.
You get 1 track now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Subscribe
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Learn more.
Enter the mirror
Double walker
An intimate
Wish defense
Is it real?
You beside me
The detail
Terrifying
Abject self
Your grief
A public
Performance
I’m not here
Are you real?
4.
A Room
5.
Desire Path
6.
Sometimes Only
7.
You Future
about
The duality of “man” is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your “true self” & what do they want? With their sixth studio album “Wish Defense” (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves.
The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album “Negative Houses” was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time.
Case notes that the lyrics on “Wish Defense” revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles”, tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album’s title track; “Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance”. Case lays out the entire album’s theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that “other” person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is “…don’t let the bastards get you down, there’s something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good”. “Wish Defense”s artwork is also a subtle reference to “Negative Houses”’ art, returning to that album’s black & white starkness & minimalism. The album’s checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album’s lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open.
A final note; “Wish Defense” is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.
credits
releases February 7, 2025
All music by FACS
Noah Leger: Drums + Percussion
Jonathan Van Herik: Bass + Acoustic guitar + Bass VI
Brian Case: Guitar + Vocals + Keyboards
Front and back cover collages by Morgan Cuinet
”Eyes the size of an American mile” can most likely be attributed to David Keenan
“No feeling is final” Rainer Maria Rilke
Recorded by Steve Albini May 6 & 7 2024
Additional recording by Sanford Parker May 9 2024
Mixed by John Congleton June 23 & 24 2024
Electrical Audio Room A
Mastered by Matthew Barnhart June 28 2024
Chicago Mastering Service
Remember Justin Chearno, Steve Albini, Steve Sostak, and Rick Froberg
A gorgeous new record from the mysterious UK group The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus is alternately haunting and lovely. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 22, 2024
