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THE MESSTHETICS AND JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
Deface the Currency(Impulse! Records)
Add date: 2.24.2026
Release date: 2.20.2026
Links:
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The Messthetics were formed in Washington, D.C., drawn together by mutual admiration: Anthony Pirog had grown up listening to Fugazi, the era-defining post-hardcore band anchored by the rhythm section of now-bandmates Joe Lally and Brendan Canty, while the bassist and drummer heard the genre-spanning guitar visionary play around town and took note of his unusually inclusive aesthetic. Pirog had played and bonded with the brilliant saxophonist James Brandon Lewis before the Messthetics formed, and in 2019, he invited the saxophonist — whose massive, soulful sound has made him a star of the contemporary jazz scene — to sit in with the group live. The collaboration blossomed and eventually led to the quartet’s 2024 LP, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis.
Their second collaborative album, Deface The Currency, preserves the tightness and variety of their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, but reveals new levels of confidence and risk over seven tracks. Deface The Currency — a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity— is a result of the band playing 150 shows together in one year.
The band’s heightened communication comes through in Deface the Currency’s many surprising dynamic shifts. On “Universal Security,” Pirog and Lewis’s floating melody, played over a waltz-time pulse from Lally and Canty, segues into the saxophonist improvising against a wall of richly textured guitar noise. And “Gestations,” which layers a bebop-esque line atop a taut funk groove, holds its energy in reserve before revving up to an explosive climax that suggests doom metal meets Ask the Ages, guitarist Sonny Sharrock’s 1991 avant-jazz masterpiece, which the quartet has recently covered in concert.
The album as a whole — a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity — shows that Canty’s initial instincts were correct: Through playing night after night, the quartet had reached new territory. Deface The Currency seamlessly melds the sounds that make up its collective DNA, from punk rock to free jazz and funk, balancing compositional precision with palpable improvisational fire.
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube
The Messthetics were formed in Washington, D.C., drawn together by mutual admiration: Anthony Pirog had grown up listening to Fugazi, the era-defining post-hardcore band anchored by the rhythm section of now-bandmates Joe Lally and Brendan Canty, while the bassist and drummer heard the genre-spanning guitar visionary play around town and took note of his unusually inclusive aesthetic. Pirog had played and bonded with the brilliant saxophonist James Brandon Lewis before the Messthetics formed, and in 2019, he invited the saxophonist — whose massive, soulful sound has made him a star of the contemporary jazz scene — to sit in with the group live. The collaboration blossomed and eventually led to the quartet’s 2024 LP, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis.
Their second collaborative album, Deface The Currency, preserves the tightness and variety of their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, but reveals new levels of confidence and risk over seven tracks. Deface The Currency — a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity— is a result of the band playing 150 shows together in one year.
The band’s heightened communication comes through in Deface the Currency’s many surprising dynamic shifts. On “Universal Security,” Pirog and Lewis’s floating melody, played over a waltz-time pulse from Lally and Canty, segues into the saxophonist improvising against a wall of richly textured guitar noise. And “Gestations,” which layers a bebop-esque line atop a taut funk groove, holds its energy in reserve before revving up to an explosive climax that suggests doom metal meets Ask the Ages, guitarist Sonny Sharrock’s 1991 avant-jazz masterpiece, which the quartet has recently covered in concert.
The album as a whole — a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity — shows that Canty’s initial instincts were correct: Through playing night after night, the quartet had reached new territory. Deface The Currency seamlessly melds the sounds that make up its collective DNA, from punk rock to free jazz and funk, balancing compositional precision with palpable improvisational fire.
Photo Credit: Pat Graham