Music
“Wired for anger, wired for deceit.” Screams of these lines close the title track of ‘WIRED,’ Basement’s fifth studio album. The song is a statement of intent: Basement are as emotionally-driven as they’ve ever been, and they return unshakeable and demanding to be heard.
‘WIRED’ marks their emergence after an eight-year hiatus from new music. Three years after their support for 2018’s Beside Myself, Basement — vocalist Andrew Fisher, guitarists Alex Henery and Ronan Crix, bassist Duncan Stewart and drummer James Fisher — returned with an appearance at Outbreak Festival in 2022, and various tours and another Outbreak slot to follow. ‘WIRED’, in turn, hears the band’s post-hardcore, emo and grunge elements bottled into one, serving a sound that is both familiar and elevated to a new standard.
‘WIRED’ was introduced to the world, initially, with a number of singles: first, a double release of the title track and ‘Broken By Design.’ The title track envelops resentful feelings backed by harsh melodies, its chorus — Fisher’s echoes of “I watched you” haunt his cries of, “Die, for a little while,” — scathes against the emotions that we, as humans, are inherently consumed by. ‘Broken By Design’ is a gentle contrast to the adrenaline of the former, anchored in a glittering guitar tone and softened vocals, reminiscent of the overarching pop-punk tone from which Basement first debuted in 2010. The two songs are a reminder, too, of Basement’s duality: their raucous urgency could easily turn into melancholy; though, they always remain a force to be reckoned with.
‘The Way I Feel’ followed in ‘Broken By Design’s footsteps, particularly, as the second single. With a lush chorus that feels all-consuming, it resonates like a distant memory. ‘WIRED’s final single, ‘Head Alight,’ is the most indie-rock-centric song on the record, diverging slightly from the customary Basement sound while simultaneously fitting right in with their previous works. If anything, it reasserts the fact that Basement will always leave room for surprises.
As an opener, ‘Time Waster’ immediately hones the comfort of classic Basement tones: Fisher’s wails, fuzzed-out breakdowns and a chorus that begs to be screamed along with: “So alive and so divine / I see it all go by.” This energy carries on ‘Deadweight,’ with slight experimental elements that bring something new to the familiar; drawn-out guitar tones, for instance, introduce the song, before the chorus transitions into a languid drone, near-slow motion as the menace of the title track returns. When Fisher declares, “You are the clearest water / And I can see right through you,” it is with a rage both subdued and visceral.
Basement’s version of a ballad rings true on ‘Embrace,’ which hears Fisher’s vocals soar as they mourn a lost love with various open-ended questions, above instrumentals reminiscent of a shoegaze-y melancholy. ‘Embrace’s tone evokes a similar feeling one could get while listening to the softer tracks on their 2012 album Colourmeinkindness. ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ remains ridiculously catchy, from the distant clang of the drum to its emphatic closing, a bold declaration of, “Compromise is suicide / We must create or die.”
‘WIRED’ loses some of its adrenaline in the latter third of the album — the calm after the storm, perhaps. ‘Satisfy’ takes notes from ‘Head Alight’ in its near-pop-rock leanings, while ‘Longshot’ finds an anchor in an acoustic guitar. The repeated question of, “Are you listening now?” closes the album on ‘Summer’s End,’ providing a hooky outro to a song that centers around a desire to truly be seen and heard. For what it’s worth, by ‘WIRED’s end, we are cast under Basement’s spell, once again.
8/10
Words: Paulina Subia
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