Stream: Failure, ‘Submarines’ and ‘Headstand’

Kevin Bronson on November 30th, 2021

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The second chapter of Failure’s career is proving every bit as compelling, maybe more so, than the first.

Born in the grunge era but forging a distinctively cinematic sound that made alternative rock giants sound one-note by comparison, the Los Angeles trio of Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards and Kellii Scott released three albums between 1992 and ’96. They reunited in 2013, then issued “The Heart Is a Monster” (2015) and “In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind” (2018) to the delight of fans searching for expansive, evocative rock. It might be cheeky to say this of a so-called “space-rock” band, but Failure post-2013 is “Star Trek: Next Generation” to the original series.

The saga continues Friday, when the trio will release their sixth album, “Wild Type Droid.” Followers of the band know better than to think Failure will repeat themselves; they’ve found subtly different ways to flex their muscle within their seemingly relentless mission to make music that sounds not of this world.

Two singles have been released thus far, “Submarines” and “Headstand.”

The latest, “‘Submarines’ sounds like a song we’ve been waiting to write for years,” Edwards told Stereogum. “These were the first lyrics written for the record, after the initial wave of COVID confusion and uncertainty. It’s a song about coming back to the surface, putting away your armor, ignoring willful idiocy and getting back to life after a trauma. We’ve collectively lost our innocence with this plague, and we need to fight the reflex to close-up and sink like a stone when risk and threat and fear seem to be everywhere.”

||| Stream: “Submarines”