Total Wife announce EP built from corrupted hard drive files

In the weeks before the release of come back down, the duo's album from September of last year, Luna Kupper's hard drive failed, wiping the finished album along with half of the duo's next record and sessions for other bands. A data recovery service later returned thousands of unnamed WAV files, most of them unusable.

"Almost every file was a rotted screaming mass of different sounds and tracks digi-melted together as if the hard drive did a harsh noise remix of itself," Kupper explained. "Any sort of remix would've been impossible until I discovered a dusty old drive containing half-finished versions of some come back down songs."

Four tracks ended up being recoverable. Rather than abandon them, Total Wife passed the files to artists they admired, asking each to rebuild something from the remnants.

The first track arrives today: "make.it.last.x.full.body.2.recovery" is a collaboration with Philadelphia band Full Body 2, alongside a visualiser created by vocalist Ash Richter. Every track on the EP is named like a file name.

Total Wife – Kupper and Richter – have been active in the DIY scene since 2016, relocating from Boston to Nashville in 2020. They run the label Ivy Eat Home and host house shows from a basement they've named Ryman 2. come back down saw the duo incorporate breakbeats, techno, and homemade samples into their take on shoegaze, and the new EP extends that approach with a widened pool of pals.

The announcement also confirms come back down will be pressed on vinyl and CD for the first time, with both formats arriving on 9 October. The duo head out on tour with Fcuckers later this month, beginning 19 September at Terminal West in Atlanta.

come.back.down.x.recovery artwork

come.back.down.x.recovery tracklist

"peaches.x.tagabow.recovery"
"second.spring.x.winter.recovery"
"(dead.b).x.scott.cortez.3.33AM.recovery"
"make.it.last.x.full.body.2.recovery"