FACS
Building on a legacy of Chicago experimental indie rock, Facs transform post-punk and post-rock into an exploratory, cathartic sound of their own. Formed from the ashes of the like-minded outfit Disappears, the band stripped their music down to its starkest rhythmic foundations on 2018's debut Negative Houses, then added more experimentation and melody on albums such as 2020's Void Moments, where they combined shoegaze, jazz, and dub influences with strikingly spectral results. Facs' evolution continued on 2021's Present Tense and 2023's Still Life in Decay, both of which channeled the band's heaviness into songs with haunting emotional impact.
In late 2016, Disappears bassist Damon Carruesco left to concentrate on his visual art and his electronic project Tüth. The group's remaining members -- guitarist/vocalist Brian Case, guitarist Jonathan Van Herik, and drummer Noah Leger -- wanted to keep making music together, so Case switched to bass and the trio rechristened itself Facs. After posting demos online, the band signed to Trouble in Mind and recorded their debut album, Negative Houses, at Chicago's Electrical Audio studio with John Congleton in June 2017.
Shortly before the release of Negative Houses in March 2018, Van Herik left Facs. Case then returned to guitar, and the band looked to an old friend, former We Regazzi drummer Alianna Kalaba, to take over on bass. To make their second album, Facs reunited with Congleton and also worked with Jeremy Lemos, the other half of Case's electronic project Acteurs. Focusing on the interplay between Kalaba and Leger -- as well as Case's mercurial guitar textures -- Lifelike appeared in March 2019. The band's melodic undercurrents came to the surface on Void Moments, which Trouble in Mind released in March 2020. At the end of the year, Facs returned to the studio, working with engineer Sanford Parker at Electrical Audio and taking a more spontaneous approach to the creative process. Their fittingly unpredictable fourth album, May 2021's Present Tense, ranged from slashing Gang of Four homages to flirtations with psychedelic rock and metal.
Facs returned in April 2023 with Still Life in Decay. Once again recorded with Parker at Electrical Audio, the band's fifth album was conceived as an addendum to Present Tense and expanded on its adventurously heavy sounds with brooding songwriting. After completing the album, Kalaba left Facs, with Van Herik returning to the fold.
© Heather Phares /TiVo
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Still Life In Decay
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 7 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Present Tense
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 21 May 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Void Moments
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 27 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lifelike
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 29 Mar 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Negative Houses
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 30 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When You Say
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 7 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Constellation
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 4 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strawberry Cough
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 3 Mar 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
FACS | Audiotree Far Out
Alternative & Indie - Released by Audiotree Music on 12 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Teenage Hive
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 21 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Total History
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 5 Mar 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Casual Indifference
Rock - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 24 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Time
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 11 Jan 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Skylarking
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 30 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nube De Ramos (feat. Mozz)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 4456827 Records DK on 15 Nov 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Primary
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 23 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Houses Breathing
Alternative & Indie - Released by Trouble In Mind Records on 10 Oct 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yo me enamoré
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 4456827 Records DK on 15 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo