Total Wife have made an EP out of a disaster. come.back.down.x.recovery arrives on 9 October through Julia's War Recordings, four tracks built from what could be salvaged after a hard drive failure destroyed the Nashville duo's finished album.
The crash happened in the weeks before come back down came out last September. Luna Kupper's drive took the completed record with it, along with half of the duo's next album and sessions belonging to other bands. A data recovery service eventually returned thousands of unnamed WAV files, and almost none of them were usable.
"Almost every file was a rotted screaming mass of different sounds and tracks digi-melted together," Kupper said, describing the result as the drive having remixed itself into harsh noise. Four tracks turned out to be recoverable, and only because an old drive holding half finished versions of some come back down songs surfaced.
Rather than throw them out, the duo sent the remnants to artists they admire and asked each to build something back. Winter, Full Body 2, They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Scott Cortez each took one. The first, make.it.last.x.full.body.2.recovery, is out now with a visualiser made by Ash Richter, the other half of Total Wife. Every track on the EP is titled like a file name.
Kupper and Richter have been working in the DIY scene since 2016 and moved from Boston to Nashville in 2020. They run the label Ivy Eat Home and put on house shows in a basement they call Ryman 2. come back down pushed breakbeats, techno and homemade samples into shoegaze, which sits their electronic instincts inside an indie frame.
The announcement also confirms that come back down gets its first vinyl and CD pressing, with both formats out on 9 October alongside the EP. The duo tour with Fcuckers from 19 September, starting at Terminal West in Atlanta.
Reworking a record through other hands has become a familiar move, though rarely for this reason. Comparable recent announcements include Liz Harris reactivating her shoegaze band Helen and Dummy's new album for Polyvinyl, with dates on the release calendar.
The facts
- come.back.down.x.recovery is out 9 October via Julia's War Recordings
- The four tracks rework material from the 2025 album come back down
- A hard drive failure wiped the finished album before its release
- Winter, Full Body 2, They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Scott Cortez each reworked a track
- come back down gets its first vinyl and CD pressing on the same day
- Total Wife are Luna Kupper and Ash Richter, based in Nashville
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