Omaha indie rockers the Faint released their new album, Fasciinatiion today, & DV8 brings it to us.  Although they have historically been very close to Bright Eyes & Conor Oberst, don’t expect acoustic tinged emo rock out of this unit, as their stuff is generally higher energy with more pop influence.  I’ve listened to a couple of this band’s older albums, & liked them quite a bit.  If this sounds like your kind of thing, be sure to check it out.

The Faint are set to release their 1st album in four years ”Fasciinatiion” through their own, newly-formed label, blank.wav. ”Fasciinatiion”, The Faint’s fifth album, is the first in the band’s ten-year history to be written, recorded, produced, art directed & released entirely on their own. ”Fasciinatiion” is an album that draws on many defining facets of The Faint’s sound, while remaining completely different from anything else they’ve put out. A record whose themes include predictions & the future, tabloid culture, the allure of what may never be, kidhood lost & more, ”Fasciinatiion” sounds as if it’s been beamed in from a satellite whose sole purpose is observing, & making sense of, the details of every day existence. In certain ways, the CD is the most mechanical and precise of the band’s work: The vocals sounds less human than ever before; the bass lines are more mangled, keyboards spiral and squeal out of control; electronic pings & stabs invade the melodies; the lyrical anxiety & disdain of previous albums pervades almost every song on ”Fasciinatiion”. Opener ”Get Seduced” is The Faint at their best, the song’s critique of celebrity culture matched with 1 of the finest choruses they’ve ever written. First single, ”The Geeks Were Right”, draws on the tenets of futurist literature and sliding, siren-call guitars. ”Fulcrum & Lever” marries ambient nahise with space references, alienation and a stuttering, flexing beat, while ”Mirror Error” explores identity and consciousness within its perfect, propulsive electro-pop. Closer ”A Battle Hymn for Children” flinches with nervous rhythms against resentment of the future to be inherited & keyboards that sound like flailing voices (or is it flailing voices that sound like keyboards? On ”Fasciinatiion”, 1 can never tell).

Track Listing:

1.  Get Seduced                                          4:22
2.  The Geeks Were Right                                 2:56
3.  Machine In The Ghost                                 3:19
4.  Fulcrum And Lever                                    3:22
5.  Psycho                                               2:51
6.  Mirror Error                                         3:43
7.  I Treat You Wrong                                    3:20
8.  Forever Growing Centipedes                           3:53
9.  Fish In A Womb                                       3:16
10. A Battle Hymn For Children                           3:58

Artist:   The Faint
Title:    Fasciinatiion
Label:    Blank.wav
Genre:    Indie
Bitrate:  197kbit av.
Time:     00:35:00
Size:     51.99 mb
Rip Date: 2008-08-05
Str Date: 2008-08-05

Release Name: The_Faint-Fasciinatiion-2008-DV8
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