Description

Chicago trio Facs have evolved very quickly in the span of their three years in existence. Void Moments is their third & latest offering; 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 Leger s 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 2018 s Lifelike , their evolution has coalesced into something distinct. Gone is the bone-rattling minimalism of Negative Houses ; Void Moments offers 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, obsfuscating the band s most direct set of songs to date. Boy kicks off with a lurch of vocals and Case s 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 Hive s buzzing churn. Casual Indifference expertly fuses the band s rhythmic pulse with a somber dissolve of guitars, vocals and backwards-masked drums. Version closes out side one with lush surges of Case s shoegaze d guitar & voice weaving around the rhythm section. Side two careens in with Leger s cavernous drums, with Kalaba and Case riding alongside. The album s 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 it s 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 humanity s increasing refusal of identity, not only by our increasing reliance on technology, but also within our society s challenging of societal & gender norms. Void Moments feels one step closer to oblivion, but it s sounds are a welcome salve.