This Friday, Chicago art-rock band FACS will release their monolithic new album Still Life In Decay (Trouble In Mind Records).  The album’s opening track, “Constellation,” premieres today and kicks things off with a squall of white noise before collapsing into the song’s lumbering groove.  Guitarist Brian Case’s guitar bares a ghostly presence, appearing and disappearing in washes of gauzy feedback throughout the track.

FACS has been perfecting its brand of intense, cathartic art rock over the course of four ever-evolving albums.  Beginning with 2018’s Negative Houses thru 2021’s landmark Present Tense, the trio digs deep into the gaping maw of a black hole and pulls back whatever debris they can grasp onto. Still Life In Decay comes as an addendum to their last album— a “post-event review,” if you will. 

While FACS is a heavy band, they don’t necessarily feel like one— Case’s fluttering, melodic guitar lines are buoyed by the insistent, underlying pulse of an expert rhythm section. Bassist Alianna Kalaba, who stepped in for founding member Jonathan Van Herik in 2018, makes her amicable last stand here with the group. Alongside drummer Noah Leger, they dance and twist around each other like a double helix, forming the DNA of what makes FACS so special. Collectively they approach rhythm from outside the groove as opposed to inside it, creating a lattice where Case weaves guitar lines like creeping vines, making the moments on Still Life In Decay where the band locks in even more powerful. 

FACS has never been more solidified as a unit, and Still Life In Decay is a decidedly focused effort. The apocalyptic chaos that defined their previous album is waved away in favor of an examination of events with cumbrous clarity.  Recorded by Sanford Parker at Chicago’s esteemed Electrical Audio, Still Life In Decay will be available this Friday from Trouble In Mind Records.

FACS, on tour

April 6  Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club

April 7  Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

April 8  Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

May 15  Pittsburgh, PA @ Government Center

May 16  Washington, DC @ DC9

May 17  Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA

May 19  Providence, RI @ Fete Lounge

May 20  Montreal, QC @ La Sotterenea

May 21  Toronto, ON @ The Garrison

June 12  St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club

June 13  Moorhead, MN @ Harold’s on Main

June 16  Seattle, WA @ Vera Project

June 17  Portland, OR @ Doug Fir

June 19  Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room

June 20  San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

June 21  Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo

June 22  San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar

June 24  Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive

June 25  Kansas City, MO @ miniBar

June 26  Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel

July 28  Indianapolis, IN @ Post. Festival