I’ve only recently come across FACS via their latest Wish Defense, released on Chicago’s Trouble In Mind Records in February.
But Wish Defense is the band’s 6th full-length album and so far, 3 albums in, I’m in deep communication as if we’re old friends. How, in the world, have I missed FACS all these years? Since 2018? My best guess is there are worlds within worlds within worlds and moving between them takes effort.
The band is Noah Leger on drums and percussion, Jonathan Van Herik on bass, acoustic guitar, and Bass VI, and Brian Case on guitar, vocals, and keyboards. Together they make angular wiry uneasy music. Reminiscent of, dare I say, Sonic Youth and contemporaries like Still House Plants (only friendlier).
From the liner notes:
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.
As someone who’s got a tattoo of a sun on one hand and the moon on the other, I relate to duality.
I listen, therefore I am.