THE MESSTHETICS & JAMES BRANDON LEWIS SHARE DEFACE THE CURRENCY NEW ALBUM OUT NOW
LISTEN TO THE NEW ALBUM HERE
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR
“RULES OF THE GAME” HERE & LISTEN HERE
“‘Deface the Currency’ is robust, and the chemistry between the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis is intense. It’s flesh and blood—a pile of prog-jazz intuition mixed with heady depth. These are tremors you can put in your pocket.”
— Paste Magazine
“Alien punk jams.”
— Pitchfork
“The alliance feels natural and unfussy, marked by sturdily memorable compositions and inspired, often incendiary improvising.”
— The New York Times
21 FEBRUARY 2026 (TORNTO, ON) — Today, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis unveil their highly anticipated new album, Deface The Currency, out now via Impulse! Records. Spanning seven tracks, the quartet builds on the precision and range of their critically acclaimed self-titled debut while stepping further into boldness and risk. After performing 150 shows in a single year, the band has channeled that hard-earned chemistry into a statement of vigor, sensitivity, and spontaneity. Listen to Deface The Currency here. Watch the official music video for the release day single “Rules Of The Game” here.
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.
While their first record captured a powerful new union, Deface The Currency reflects a band transformed by time on the road. After extensive touring, Canty felt the group’s chemistry evolving and booked a few days at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, with engineer Don Godwin. Initially intended to capture just a handful of live-tested songs, the sessions took on greater momentum. “We just started recording things and getting them down in first or second takes,” Pirog recalls. “I don't think we were expecting to finish the record that quickly, but we were just so in the zone of playing together that it was pretty easy.”
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.
Their collective instincts served them equally well on the album’s mellower moments, such as the Wayne Shorter–esque “30 Years of Knowing,” as on the tracks that reach full roar, including “Rules of the Game,” with its hard-funk stomp that earned it the Parliament-nodding provisional title of “Mr. Wiggles,” or the grinding, anthemic “Clutch,” which exemplifies what Lewis calls a “wounded warrior, ‘we will prevail’ type vibe.”
Across the album, compositional rigor collides with fearless improvisation, solidifying the quartet as what Canty calls “a collective, an actual group”, not just a collaboration, but a band in its truest, most formidable form.
The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis will be on tour starting April 17th. See all tour dates below, and tickets are available to purchase here.
DEFACE THE CURRENCY TOUR DATES:
FRIDAY, APRIL 17 — PORTLAND, OR @ STAR THEATER
SATURDAY, APRIL 18 — SEATTLE, WA @ CLOCK-OUT LOUNGE
SUNDAY, APRIL 19 — VANCOUVER, BC @ WISE HALL
SATURDAY, APRIL 25 — RALEIGH, NC @ KINGS
SUNDAY, APRIL 26 — ASHEVILLE, NC @ AYURPRANA LISTENING ROOM
MONDAY, APRIL 27 — ATLANTA, GA @ THE EARL
TUESDAY, APRIL 28 — LEXINGTON, KY @ SINGLETARY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 30 — CHICAGO, IL @ CONSTELLATION
FRIDAY, MAY 1 — DETROIT, MI @ THIRD MAN RECORDS
SATURDAY, MAY 2 — TORONTO, ON @ 918 BATHURST
SUNDAY, MAY 3 — ERIE, PA @ CENTENNIAL HALL
MONDAY, MAY 4 — KINGSTON, NY @ TUBBY’S
TUESDAY, MAY 5 — BOSTON, MA @ CITY WINERY BOSTON
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 — NEW YORK, NY @ LE POISSON ROUGE
THURSDAY, MAY 7 — PITTSBURGH, PA @ PITTSBURGH JAZZ & POETRY FESTIVAL
FRIDAY, MAY 8 — PHILADELPHIA, PA @ SOLAR MYTH
SATURDAY, MAY 9 — WASHINGTON, DC @ THE BLACK CAT
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