Void Walker

Description

Chicago trios third album (ex-Disappears). Chicago trio FACS have evolved very quickly in the span of their three year existence. Void Moments is their third & latest off¬ering; a dark & claustrophobic album with rivulets of seismic beauty peeking through the din. Formed in the wake of the dissolution of Disappears, guitarist Brian Case & drummer Noah Legers project is the logical continuation of the trails blazed in their former outfit. Since their 2017 debut Negative Houses, the band have reworked, retooled & reshaped their sound, and with the addition of bassist Alianna Kalaba on 2018s Lifelike, their evolution has coalesced into something distinct. Gone is the bone-rattling minimalism of Negative Houses; Void Moments o¬ffers an abstraction of the melodic elements that crept into Lifelike and contorts them toward a new horizon. Where Lifelike rang with a metallic, near-industrial racket, Void Moments cloaks the music behind a black velvet curtain of sonance, obfuscating the bands most direct set of songs to date. Boy kicks o¬ with a lurch of vocals and Cases sinewy guitar-line guiding a stoic march. By the time Kalaba drops in with the bass, the track morphs into a milky swirl, leading into the chiming swirl of Teenage Hives buzzing churn. Casual Indiff¬erence expertly fuses the bands rhythmic pulse with a sombre dissolve of guitars, vocals and backwards-masked drums. Version closes out side one with lush surges of Cases shoegazed guitar & voice weaving around the rhythm section. Side two careens in with Legers cavernous drums, with Kalaba and Case riding alongside. The albums final two tracks Lifelike and Dub Over cascade into one another, becoming one & act as a perfect analogy to Void Moments mutability, both musically & lyrically. Despite its foggy presence, Void Moments still careens toward the light. By embracing fluidity, FACS continue to evolve & refuse to be ensnared by genre. Void Moments ruminates on humanitys increasing refusal of identity, not only by our increasing reliance on technology, but also within our societys challenging of societal & gender norms. Void Moments feels one step closer to oblivion, but its sounds are a welcome salve.