Fasciinatiion

iTunes Review

After a four-year wait, Omaha’s The Faint released Fasciinatiion which they produced, wrote, recorded, and art-directed entirely, and which carries a number of themes, all related in some way to the idea of personal discovery, obsession, and the future. There’s a healthy dose of caution, as well: the first single, “The Geeks Were Right,” a smooth, catchy number with crisp guitars and distorted basslines, warns — from a future date —  that the geeks were right about our obsession with technology: “Predator skills, chemical wars, plastic islands at sea / watch what the humans ruin with machines.” The glossy, punk-disco number, “Get Seduced” addresses our fascination with celebrities and our penchant for living vicariously through them, and the churning, machine rhythms of “A Battle Hymn for Children” explores our obsession with violence, comparing real war to “violent games on pause at home.” As far as thought provoking dance music goes, the Faint are still tops, although your footwork may be slowed a bit by the burden of the weighty lyrics.  Not quite as easy to latch onto as, say, most of Danse Macabre, but give it some time.