Somehow, Here We Are, by Faulty Cognitions

Somehow, Here We Are

by Faulty Cognitions

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
First edition on bubblegum pink vinyl with 24pt jackets and 16 page half-size zine. Limited to 300 copies.

Includes unlimited streaming of Somehow, Here We Are via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 3 days

$25 USD or more

1.	Sun Sun Go Away 03:21	buy track
2.	Roller Skating and the End of the World 03:00	buy track
3.	Las Cruces 02:48	buy track
4.	On a Rock 02:34	buy track
5.	Your Inheritance 03:13	buy track
6.	Sad Sack 03:47	buy track
7.	All Alone 02:58	buy track
8.	Crisis of Faith 02:24	buy track
9.	Let the Kids Have the Scene 02:49	buy track
10.	Center of the Universe 03:53	buy track
11.	Tired of It 02:51	buy track
12.	They Won't Give it Away 02:51	buy track

about

Introductions don’t get much more grand than this. Faulty Cognitions are a brand new quartet from San Antonio, TX, and they announce their arrival with a chiming, subtly melancholic guitar line - brand new yet instantly familiar. It’s soon joined by the dramatic boom of a rhythm section, deployed at mid-pace and opening up space for Chris Mason’s strident vocal melody to take charge of the song. “You know there’s something more,” he sings, confidently but wistfully, before suddenly the song (titled ‘Sun Sun Go Away’) explodes into life. Instantly you feel your blood rush into the flow of punkified rock’n’roll, and with this sudden payoff you just know that what follows is gonna be killer. It’s a soaring, addictive beginning to an album that only gets better from there.

Faulty Cognitions formed following Mason’s relocation from Portland, OR, as he hooked up with bassist and long-term buddy Yole Centeno (Nocturnal Prose, Sacred Games, and other San Antonio punk favorites). Having racked up a CV including Shang-A-Lang and Low Culture, Mason was keen to get things up and running with a new band as soon as possible. Guitarist Nick Obregon (also of Nocturnal Prose) and Mike Nira were soon added to the lineup, and one swiftly recorded demo later, the newly cemented foursome began work on what would become ‘Somehow, Here We Are’, their debut album.

Mason originally had visions of shooting for the middle ground between the perfect jangle of early R.E.M. and the roughshod Dunedin sound of The Clean and The Bats. The end result is something totally different, but those roots of melodic inspiration still poke through; just add the scorching brilliance of the band members’ individual past glories and the end results often feel closer to the heart-on-sleeve raggedness of ‘Tim’-era Replacements. Yes, a lot of beat combos draw comparisons to the Minneapolis antiheroes, often erroneously, but trust me on this one. It's a sound and a vibe thing. Meanwhile Centeno’s tuneful basslines are often foregrounded, echoing the explosive pop thrills of Senseless Things cuts like ‘Too Much Kissing’ - particularly on ‘Sad Sack’, a mighty number that fizzes with the nagging urgency of a hidden mid-80s college rock nugget. You'll treasure it like one too.

By the time the album comes to a close with the anthemic ‘They Won’t Give It Away’, where Obregon’s playing really comes out to shine, the journey feels worthy of a victory lap. Songs feel heavy with the weight of the past few years - wildfires and violence in Portland; the messy spilling out of political unrest; the general anxiety of living through a pandemic - but that’s all perfectly channeled into melody and an indefatigable sense of survival. If ‘Somehow, We Are Here’ feels like the words of a band who are battered and bruised but eager to announce themselves, then these 12 songs are the perfect distillation of that sentiment. Seriously, what a record.

- Will Fitzpatrick

credits

released April 12, 2024

Recorded by Joshua Bloodsworth @ Jett Bass Studio (SATX)
Mixed by Jesse Gander @ Rain City Recorders (Vancouver, Canada)
Mastered by Carl Saff (Chicago, IL)
Cover art by @Vakstiga
Physical release by Cercle Social Records

license

about

Faulty Cognitions San Antonio, Texas

Melodic punk from San Antonio, TX

Instagram

contact / help

Contact Faulty Cognitions

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Faulty Cognitions, you may also like:

Hunger for a Way Out
by Sweeping Promises

supported by 11 fans who also own “Somehow, Here We Are”

You had me at Kleenex/LiLiPUT meets ESG Tom
go to album
Games Of Power
by Home Front

supported by 10 fans who also own “Somehow, Here We Are”

This is one of those albums where I have a different favourite track every week, and it's been like that since the release that is now a year ago. What a massive album, starting out with fist pumping chants and gradually getting more electro but always with that punk grit attitude. Top 3 of 2023. Gijs van Soest
go to album
MUST BE NICE
by DARK THOUGHTS

supported by 10 fans who also own “Somehow, Here We Are”

This is a great band!! Love this album! nekro6669
go to album
Happiness
by Beauty School

Taking cues from Midwestern emo and early ’10 pop punk, this Leeds, UK outfit are full of heart— not to mention hooks. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 21, 2022
go to album
YOU'RE NOT THERE
by Pretty Matty

A new track from Pretty Matty finds the band in top form, delivering clean yet crunchy hook-laden power pop with trademark high energy. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 25, 2020
go to album
Seattle
by Bloods

Sydney group Bloods decamped to Seattle to make this brief, punchy EP that pairs punk attitude with sky-high hooks. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 20, 2020
go to album
If You've Got Nothing
by CLASS

supported by 9 fans who also own “Somehow, Here We Are”

Killer late 70s UK influenced track. davidgredding
go to album