Wired (LP)

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.

The most dynamic, daring, and inspired Basement have ever sounded, WIRED retains the timeless fundamentals of the band's singular sound - growling guitars, rousing choruses, striking emotional verbiage - 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. 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 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.