3 out of 5

Label: Trouble in Mind

Produced by: Sanford Parker

The trend towards a more live sound continues, with an interesting pseudo-narrative that can also be assumed from album titles: FACS’ last was Present Tense, and now, with Still Life in Decay, it’s as though life has moved past us, and we’re rotting in its wake.

This cynical read is in the music’s general bristle and tendency toward bursts of frustrated noise or loping tones, as well as Brian Case’s spattered thoughts on fading relationships and class struggles – an inability to move forward.

The band’s continued relationship with producer Sanford Parker has been bringing this “live” sound to fuller fruition on each outing, quite leaving behind the krautrock dissonance of earlier recordings; bassist Alianna Kalaba is also leading the fray, here, with the meaty lowend groove driving every track, battered guitar solos and propulsive drumming working within the outlines of her contributions, Case echoing a song’s melody in his plaintive sing-speak style.

But: there are two sides to the FACS sound for me, and as they get closer this live style, the more disparate those sides become, and the less immersive I find the experience. Opener Constellation kicks all butt, being one of the most directly rocking tunes the group has committed, leading into the very (early) 90 Day Men-ish When You Say; however, neither song necessarily feels “complete.” The other side of this equation is the group’s art- / noise-rock expressions, and it’s just become a harder and harder equation to solve as those expressions are refigured for a comparatively streamlined vibe, albeit still with 6+ minute tunes that allow for some repetitiveness which has appealed to Case and his compatriots since 90 Day Men.

These are songs that thus structurally have peaks, but that I don’t “feel;” I realize that’s subjective, I suppose I just want the group to lean more towards the art or the rock, instead of pursuing both at once with a producer who I think is more encouraging of tracks like Constellation than expansive closers like New Flag, which is a buzzy tune that would’ve killed on earlier FACS albums, but never succeeds in enveloping me in its sound.

Still Life in Decay is not a deep-sounding album. Lyrically, musically, production-wise, it has surface level immediacy, and I think that aspect of it really hit. But when it tries to throw its arm around broader experiences, it stalls. That’s maybe meta, given the album’s name, but I don’t think it’s the intention.