Piqued

Some forty years after a fan letter from Nebraska resulted in Independent Project Records commencing a decades-long collaboration with post-punk cult favourites turned dream pop visionaries For Against, the label proudly presents Piqued, the last album from For Against chief songwriter, lead singer, bass player and only constant member Jeffrey Runnings. A posthumous release that's also a celebration of the artist's lifelong quest for a sound that, stripped to the bones, is all the more powerful and cathartic for its restraint, Piqued was recorded by Runnings at home on an old 8-track cassette machine. It plays just like a late '80s mixtape, lovingly compiled to showcase the beautiful emptiness of post-punk's more eloquently quiet peaks. The favourites of a lifetime -- from Section 25 to The Comsat Angels, from Young Marble Giants to early 4AD singles -- are conjured as Runnings' final songs play. Stark and deadpan on the surface, this is electric guitar music in its most human and vulnerable form. Piqued is available on vinyl (Black or Transparent Magenta), Special Edition CD and digital, and comes with a 4-track EP of rare recordings from the late '80s for the vinyl releases -- two tracks previously unreleased.