BASEMENT RELEASE THEIR FIRST NEW ALBUM IN OVER EIGHT YEARS
Today, British alternative rock mainstays Basement return with the release of WIRED, their first new album in over eight years via their original label, Run For Cover Records. They also share the album’s focus track "Time Waster," the LP’s opening song, and a fitting entry point into the WIRED’s mix of urgency, melody, and raw intensity. Boldly defying genre limitations, the record marks a new chapter for the band and is their most authentic and fully realized work to date. Working with producer John Congleton (Death Cab for Cutie, Wallows, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten), WIRED is the sound of five friends who have weathered every high and low without a single lineup change, creating the uncompromising music that first moved them.
Leading to WIRED’s release, Basement shared the album’s title track, plus “Broken By Design,” “The Way I Feel,” and most recently, “Head Alight.” The singles have drawn attention from, among others, Stereogum, Alternative Press, Under The Radar, and Consequence.
Fresh off their surprise WIRED celebration show this past weekend at Milky’s in Los Angeles, the band had fans wrapped around the block and stage diving during their epic performance. Check out some of the chaos and excitement shared by @torresblends, @Knotfest, @notyournatalie, and @jonweisberg, amongst others.
Basement — vocalist Andrew Fisher, guitarists Alex Henery and Ronan Crix, bassist Duncan Stewart, and drummer James Fisher — were adamant that WIRED had to be their most decisive artistic statement yet. A bold musical swing that people will either love or hate, but that absolutely can’t elicit a muted reaction from their fans. The group spent years writing and refining the 12 no-bloat songs, working closer and communicating better than ever while building out the tracklist as a group in various studios long before they began recording. Therefore, the songs were fully-formed by the time they hit the studio with powerhouse producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Mannequin Pussy), who helped the band manifest the heightened version of Basement that they’d always dreamt of. Imperfections were celebrated, each member’s ideas were incorporated, and Congleton ensured that every moment on WIRED sounds both precise and enervated.
"I never thought Basement could sound like this," says guitarist Alex Henery. "But in my head, it's what I've always wanted Basement to sound like."
Every time Basement take a break, their band gets bigger. The quintet’s 2011 debut, I Wish You Could Stay Here, gave them a foothold in the post-hardcore groundswell of the early 2010s, but Basement had already decided to call it quits before their far more evolved follow-up, Colourmeinkindness, had even hit the shelves. Upon disbanding in late 2012 so vocalist Fisher could get his teaching degree, Basement’s underground following ballooned in their absence, and when they eventually reformed in 2014, they were welcomed back as mainstays of the scene.
After some deep conversations that reaffirmed their creative alliance, Henery and Fisher reconvened to begin writing again with no label pressures and no strings attached. Instantly, the seeds of WIRED began to take shape, and soon enough, the whole band knew they had something special in the works. Coincidentally, not long after Basement began properly sculpting LP5, the Colourmeinkindness song “Covet” caught wind on TikTok and swiftly became a viral hit, earning a Gold certification in 2024 -- 12 years after its release -- and introducing Basement’s music to a whole new generation of internet-savvy fans.
Once again, Basement find themselves re-emerging with new music bigger and more beloved than ever before. WIRED, it out today via Run For Cover Records/Civilians.
TRACK LISTING
1. Time Waster
2. WIRED
3. Deadweight
4. Broken By Design
5. Pick Up The Pieces
6. Embrace
7. Sever
8. The Way I Feel
9. Satisfy
10. Head Alight
11. Longshot
12. Summer’s End
