Facs return with their new album Wish Defense on Feburary 7, 2025 via Trouble In Mind Records (Dummy, The Tubs). The Chicago band take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The group’s guitarist/vocalist Brian Case notes that the album’s lyrics evolve around doppelgängers or “doubles,” tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations.

Ahead of the LP’s arrival, the group have shared the album’s second single, “Desire Path” accompanied by a unique black and white visualizer. Echoing the album’s cover art, checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves.

Wish Defense, features the return of original member Jonathan Van Herik— who stepped away from the group just before their debut album Negative Houses was released, and replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba— brings renewed vigor and a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways; the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure and his previous time with Case and powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time.

A final note: Wish Defense is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer and friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have, in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.

Facs
Wish Defense
track list

Talking Haunted
Ordinary Voices
Wish Defense
A Room
Desire Path
Sometimes Only
You Future

FACS 2025 Tour Dates

Feb. 07 Den Haag, NL – Grauzone Fest
Feb. 08 Amsterdam, NL – OCCII
Feb. 09 Hamburg, DE – Ms Stubnitz Boat
Feb. 10 Berlin, DE – Neue Zukunft
Feb. 11 Brussels, BE – Magazine 4
Feb. 12 Luxembourg, LUX – Rotondes
Feb. 13 Metz, FR – Trinitaires
Feb. 14 Lyon, FR – Periscope
Feb. 15 Nïmes, FR – Paloma
Feb. 16 Marseille, FR – Emma Vortex
Feb. 18 Savona, IT – Raindogs
Feb. 19 Grenoble, FR – Le Ciel
Feb. 20 Zürich, CH – Ziegel Oh Lac
Feb. 21 Trier, DE – Mergener Hof Trier
Feb. 22 Liege, BE – Jaune Orange
Apr. 07 Washington, DC – Songbyrd
Apr. 08 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Apr. 09 Ridgewood, NY – TV Eye
Apr. 10 Medford, MA – Deep Cuts
Apr. 11 Montreal, QC – Quai des Brumes
Apr. 12 Toronto, ON – Dance Cave
Apr. 13 Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme
Apr. 17 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall

Pre-order Wish Defense by Facs HERE