Things that don’t make sense at first often make sense later. In the creation of art, when the process is left up to the subconscious mind, when there is no preconceived concept, patterns still always emerge. Themes and recurring images, blurred in the moment later become clear. This is the case with The Faint’s sixth album Doom Abuse, an unexpected but also inevitable addition to their compellingly unusual catalogue of music.

To understand the album and its raw, visceral aesthetic you have to understand its birth story. You have to understand that after touring for a year on their 2008 self-release album Fasciinatiion, an album that took several years to write and produce, The Faint ceased to exist. The musicians were burned out, uninspired and could no longer find the most important element of any musical creation: fun. They went their separate ways, pursued other sorts of music in other projects, sometimes together and sometimes separately, and learned new ways of channeling sound.
They remembered what drove their songwriting in the first place. Then in the Spring of 2013, The Faint existed again. Anxious to make new music the band recorded a 4-song white label 12″ they referred to as ‘Preversions’. That music, primal and punk rock in its approach, became the unplanned blueprint for Doom Abuse. The band booked time with longtime collaborator Mike Mogis to mix the album before even really having songs written. There was no specific concept, just a sense of wanting to capture moments of real passion and invigorated glee. Whatever came out while writing in the band’s Omaha studio and rehearsal space would become their next album.

Since much of Fasciination was made sitting behind computers, the musicians wanted to embrace a live sensibility and collective rawness. A lot of the record was created live in the room, with first takes and first ideas taking precendent. “We focused a lot less one the finished product of this record than we did on the spirit of it,” Dapose says. “The spirit was low-fi mixed with hi-fi, feedback and noise mixed with songwriting. There are some real consistencies in the songs, but it was really about a feel in general. Everything’s a lot faster on this record, it’s more rocking.”