Basement – Wired Review 

Their first album in eight years, Basement returns with a single cymbal clash, then a half-hour of music. It’s a surprise to hear it, as if drummer James Fisher had accidentally kicked his kit while the mics were live. A nice touch, accidental or intentional, it’s what separates Wired from the rest of the alternative rock genre. Basement plugged away quietly between this release and their previous album, Beside Myself. For those who haven’t touched the alternative rock and post-hardcore scene, those whose closest relationship with the genre is through those mid-2000s wrestling games, then everything will sound like a breath of fresh air. Note that as a problem or a persuasion to listen, depending on whether you want a nostalgic feeling spread across the album. Wired is what people out of step with the genre may enjoy more than those well-versed. That’s okay. It’ll alienate those dedicated to post-hardcore songs, but it’s hard not to enjoy the back-to-basics sound featured on Wired.  

Basement brings not their best, but they are catching up on the eight years of music they missed between releases. Opening track Time Waster is a strong start, but the heavy percussion follow-up of the title track leaves listeners a little high and dry. Basement hit a decent tempo, and it carries them the whole way through Wired. Even to the passing post-hardcore listener, this will feel familiar. Deadweight is just that, a bit of a heavy burden where the band doesn’t appear to realise the blur of nostalgic listening and instrumental innovation is weighing heavily towards the former, rather than the latter. That much is fine, too, but the experience is certainly weighed down by that appeal to familiar guitar structures and that percussion-led style. That run from Broken by Design to Sever blurs into one, no real standout moment apart from the fuzz that sparks a bit of life back into Basement towards the end of Sever.  

From there, Wired does pick up a little. Nothing extraordinary or all that revolutionary, but it does, at the very least, feel as though progress has been made. Catchy but relatively tame writing on Satisfy stops the song from becoming, well, satisfying. It’s a harsh truth that the band fails to contend with, and it lingers the rest of the way, irrespective of the instrumental differences. Head Alight sounds much stronger than what precedes it, but even then, the slower tempo is a little unconvincing. Repeating the song’s title, though, it’s a rite of passage for many bands, and it works well enough here when paired with a sound that’s loud but doesn’t leave room to grow. All that to say, Longshot is a bit of a cringe-inducing piece. The problem with post-hardcore efforts like this is that the instrumental focus leaves little focus on the lyricist. Wired is at its weakest when Andrew Fisher sings the most obvious occasions into being.  

You’re the sun, you’re a brighter spark. Straight from the TK Maxx book of self-help are the lyrics Fisher brings to the table. A shame, too, because the lyrical quality is what could have separated Wired from being just another post-hardcore album that’s, while worth listening to, not going to rattle around your head for all that long. Summer’s End is a tame closer to an album that starts with such promise. Hard it is to keep momentum like that alive after an eight-year absence, there is part of Wired that should, quite simply, be much better than it is. A nice enough listen, though. A few highs in there to latch onto. Basement’s return to the studio should be a moment of celebration, but it’s not all that interesting.