The Furthest Thing by Failure

Let it be known that I called the name of The Furthest Thing around the time Your Body Will Be firebombed my house. The phrase "in the future, your body will be the furthest thing from your mind" was cut into the runout groove of a vinyl pressing of another Greg Edwards project I happen to love and own, Autolux's Future Perfect. Becoming Nostradamus aside, Your Body Will Be was especially weak, even within the confines of these bitterly short EPs, and I was hoping Failure would rebound for the third entry in the series. Thankfully, where "No One Left" telegraphed how shiny and empty the previous EP would sound, "Found a Way", the opener here, is built out of the same soothingly anxious dirt and grime as the better Failure records, and oh, how soothing it is.

Really, "Found a Way" is easily the highlight of the EP. With its nocturnal atmosphere, "Frogs"-like gallop, and low-key vocal delivery, it's a perfect example of what these EPs are ultimately doing right. "Distorted Fields", meanwhile, shows the band branching out once again, sounding a bit like Failure reworking a hip-hop instrumental for their own sinister ends. The segue is still useless, and "Heavy and Blind" is anything but. In short, New Failure continues to do New Failure things. The Furthest Thing puts you in the same position as In the Future did: you like it, you really do, but it's too short to get you particularly excited. No matter how lovely it sounds, The Furthest Thing continues the trend of ultimately disappointing.