The Skull Defekts

Swedish experimental post-punk outfit the Skull Defekts came together in 2005. Known for their clamorous and atonal approach, the founding quartet of Daniel Fagerström, Henrik Rylander, Jean-Louis Huhta, and Joachim Nordwall issued Blood Spirits & Drums Are Singing in 2007 and The Temple in 2009. Daniel Higgs, previously the vocalist of Lungfish, entered the group in 2011 as its fifth member and frontman. Later that year the expanded lineup delivered Peer Amid through Thrill Jockey Records, the imprint that had already issued Higgs’s own avant-garde solo recordings. The musicians convened in the studio during 2013 carrying only fragmentary notions that coalesced into the sprawling-yet-catchy fourth album Dances in the Dreams of the Known Unknown. Following a short run of live performances supporting the release, the band shifted direction when Huhta departed and Higgs gradually withdrew to concentrate on his individual projects. Work on a new album began in 2016, with the participants aware from the outset that the sessions would constitute their final statement. Mariam Wallentin of Wildbirds & Peacedrums participated as a fourth member during the recording, which yielded the cathartic and explosive self-titled album issued in early 2018.