Basement - 'WIRED' // 'Broken By Design'
After years of international acclaim on and off the stage, powerhouse alternative band Basement are back for the first time in 8 years, and while the landscape has changed, their vivacious and grungy sound hasn’t.
Basement, a band that seemingly eludes a subgenre title for the painstakingly brilliant songs they release, have been making waves over the past few years. They have toured consistently with fantastic bands on both headline tours and support tours for behemoths like Turnstile, and also headlined the coveted Outbreak festival in 2024. This exponential growth is nothing but deserved, as these guys have grafted for years and years, releasing 4 masterpiece albums over 7 years and then vanishing from the release front, leaving fans ravenous for more punchy riffs and poetic lyrics. Alas, the drought is over. A gruelling 8 years after their last release, Basement have returned with 2 absolutely fantastic singles to usher in their new album, WIRED.
These singles, ‘WIRED’ and ‘Broken by Design’, contain not only the essence of their songwriting, snappy and immediate riffs with a foreboding sense of urgency, only amplified by the relentless hardcore adjacent drums that are expertly coupled with the forlorn and scathing lyricism to create a perfect dichotomy of sound, but a distinct evolution in the mixing and general sound. Both of these tracks sound inherently alive, both with individual identities carried by the heartbeat of the group’s creativity.
‘WIRED’ is an expertly dialled-in track that hits top speed before the light has changed. Its shrill and speedy chord progression kicks us into overdrive immediately, keeping the intensity sky high as the distinct and biting vocals begin to viciously serenade the rest of the band as they carry through the verses with haste and break into an explosive pre-chorus, rife with lead lines and vicious blasts of the snare drum. They use this standard yet precise drumming to play around with the timing of the guitar parts as they subvert expectations and crash in on the three to create this brutal and immediate end to the bar. This gives the pre-chorus so much punch and really adds to the anxiety of the listening experience; it feels unpredictable and leaves you on edge, but in a way that builds pure excitement. musically this track is perfect; it plays with so many devices throughout its two-and-a-half-minute run time that I simply cannot stop myself from revisiting. It's an honestly addicting track that closes on a high of highs as it carries this insatiable momentum from the small bridge into a brilliantly cascading and chaotic final blow, it dials everything to eleven and rides out on a collision of straining vocals, ringing of cymbals and adrenaline-fuelled riffs. This is basement at its best, and if this is the tempo that they continue to carry forward at, this will no doubt be a huge album for the Ipswich five-piece.
The latter of the two singles is used to display the true talent and depth of this band, letting their usual adrenaline-filled style take a backseat to showcase a more intimate and well-versed style of songwriting. This is something that these guys have never shied away from, as many tracks from previous albums like 2011’s ‘Ellipses’ and a personal favourite ‘Breathe’ from 2012’s ‘Colourmeinkindness’ both take this nurtured and internally honest approach, and this is just one of the many reasons why so many people find themselves connecting to this band so deeply. This song builds upon their lineage of beautifully crafted and emotionally aware tracks, with a much more lo-fi feel to its lead riffs and a very well-adjusted bass riff that carries the truly beautiful vocal performance. The depth of the bassline works perfectly with Andrew Fisher’s midrange vocals. This song adds a brilliant layer to this album and demonstrates that every area of their skill has only been sharpened.
Basement’s 5th studio album ‘WIRED’ will be shared with the world on the 8th of May via the prestigious Run For Cover Records and has all the makings of an instant classic. This album feels gigantic, and we are a mere 2 singles into the albums 12 track offering. Seeing bands that truly care about not only the music they make but the scene around that music is one of the things that gets me up in the morning, and this is a band that has done that since their inception, and I think it’s finally time that the wider world gets to hear what this infinitely talented Ipswich 5-piece has to offer.
Words by Josh Pook
