Basement - WIRED (CD)

WIRED is a hard reset for Basement. It marks the British band’s first album in eight years, a reunion with their original label Run For Cover Records, and a return to making music with the unbridled passion and creative intuition that’s always animated their best material. Since forming in 2009, Basement have always been the same five friends -- vocalist Andrew Fisher, guitarists Alex Henery and Ronan Crix, bassist Duncan Stewart, and drummerJames Fisher -- with the same alchemic bond. The only thing that’s changed in recent years is their renewed sense of purpose, and their new album makes that loudly apparent. WIRED is the most dynamic, daring, and inspired Basement have ever sounded, while also retaining the timeless fundamentals of the band’s singular sound: growling guitars, rousing choruses, striking emotional verbiage.

Basement are back firing on all cylinders, but they’re not interested in rehashing old glories. The whole band was adamant that WIRED had to be their most decisive artistic statement yet. Title-track “WIRED” is the most urgent they’ve ever sounded, a surefire live staple propelled by needling guitars, a slugging drumbeat, and a skyscraping hook that finds Fisher’s voice in peak form. “Broken By Design” has the opposite temperament: dusky, delicate, bass-led, but still quintessentially Basement in its immediate catchiness and moody character. Nothing on WIRED sounds stagnant. Not one part feels undercooked. The band looked to a smorgasbord of adventurous heroes for inspiration (REM, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, to name a few) without ever sounding like they’re imitating any one band -- not even themselves.

The record’s title condenses all of this into a single word. The textural connotations of WIRED -- metallic, sharp, jagged -- evoke the album’s steely sonics, and on a more conceptual level, the title speaks to Basement’s unshakeable tenacity. An analog band who’ve thrived in an increasingly digital world without resting on the comforts of nostalgia. Five friends who’ve persisted through several breakups and breakthroughs, but have only grown as people and evolved as a musical unit. At this point, Basement have to accept their fate: they’re wired for this shit.