WIRED [Coke Bottle Clear], Basement, Vinyl

After years apart, BASEMENT have relinked for a new album that is bursting with renewed purpose. WIRED is the UK-based band's fifth full-length album and first on Run For Cover Records in ten years. But it's more than that - it's the feeling of electricity that surges through these twelve songs like a current, and a statement on how interconnected these five individuals were while creating their most complete album to date. Since joining together with the modest goal playing shows around their hometown of Ipswich, Basement's consistent core - vocalist Andrew Fisher, bass player Duncan Stewart, drummer James Fisher, and guitarists Alex Henery and Ronan Crix - have had an enduring connection that's grown over nearly twenty years. WIRED signals a return to what drove the band in those earliest days: creative freedom & connection. Songs like title track "Wired," opener "Time Waster" and the fiery "Pick Up the Pieces" are as intense as they are intimate, pushing against the boundaries of anything the band's done before. There are softer moments, too - the infectious melodies of"Broken By Design" and "Head Alight" feel as emotionally resonant as any song the band's ever done. Together, these twelve songs radiate like the iridescent cat captured on the album's cover - flashes of pure energy, captured in the perfect moment to light up fiercely against the night. Navigated by producer John Congleton (Shame, Mannequin Pussy), WIRED channels the all of the catharsis of previous Basement records with a renewed focus on distortion, imperfection, and strangeness. There is clear inspiration from alt-rock pioneers like Radiohead and Sonic Youth across these songs, but what pulses through every moment of WIRED is a dedication to experimentation - a risky gambit on the creative force of these five individuals that rewards on every listen. For Basement, WIRED is not just the continuation of a story that started years ago - it's a bold statement and a new beginning.