Failure are currently mapping out the path towards their seventh full-length release, Location Lost. Following last month’s staggering “The Air’s On Fire” single, the dark-incandescent space-rock vets have now transmitted a rumbling follow-up called “A Way Down.”
The song lunges into thundering tom fills from Kelli Scott and a moody wash of guitar texturing. Ken Andrews cooly sings of a fractured friendship, the Failure member decoding notes, waveforms and the chaotic mind of someone who has recently made an exit from the interpersonal situation.
In light of first single “The Air Is on Fire” having been themed around a serious back injury and surgery Edwards experienced in recent times, there’s notably a line in here about how he wants to “re-seat” his spine. He explains in a statement that the song is “another study in miscommunication and the resulting loneliness it often brings — no silver linings here.”
“Musically speaking, ‘A Way Down’ is an homage to two bands who actually got me to pick up the guitar and try to write my own music: The Cure and Siouxsie & The Banshees, specifically their early 80s periods with albums like Juju and Pornography,” he continued. “I was captured by the angular guitar approach and the unapologetic dark atmospheres that dripped off those records.”
We’d be remiss not to mention that Andrews’ bleakly sung “I’m getting a ride from my best friend” near the end of the track also gives off shades of the hook to Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again.”
If you’re down the sound, you can plunge yourself into Failure’s latest single via the lyric video up above.
As previously reported, Location Lost follows 2021’s Wild Type Droid, and is likewise Failure’s first release since they issued their documentary in 2025. The album features a guest spot from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, who duets with Andrews on “The Rising Skyline.”
Location Lost is due out April 24th under a partnership between Failure Records/Arduous Records/Virgin Music Group. The album is currently available for pre-order on vinyl and CD in Revolver’s shop.
Failure are also launching a North American tour the same week as Lost Location’s release. Those tour dates can be found here.