Chicago trio FACS was founded in 2017 by former Disappears members Brian Case & Noah Leger, along with their bandmate Jonathan van Herik. After van Herik amicably parted ways with the group just before their debut album “Negative Houses”‘s release, Case & Leger recruited longtime friend Alianna Kalaba (Cat Power, We Ragazzi) to play bass & FACS began methodically destroying live venues across the world. “Lifelike” is their sophomore release; six tracks clocking in at half an hour, carrying forward the musical trail blazed by the debut towards a new frontier.
“Lifelike” occupies a space in between the band’s debut & Case & Leger’s work with Disappears, applying minimalism & space in compositions that reside somewhere near the realms of post-punk, art-rock, shoegaze, industrial music & post-rock. “Lifelike” however adds a more melodic sensibility, without sacrificing any of the debut’s punishing sonic muscle, with a discernible audial force perceivable thru the speakers (credit due to engineer Jeremy Lemos’ recording via Electrical Audio as well as John Congleton’s mixing and Jason Ward’s mastering for accurately capturing the punishing heft of the band’s live sound)