Knumears have announced their debut album ‘Directions,’ due April 3 via Run For Cover Records and Summer Shade, the RFC imprint spearheaded by Fury’s Madison Woodward. To mark the announcement, the Los Angeles three-piece have shared “Fade Away,” a ferocious lead single featuring guest vocals from Jeromes Dream’s Jeff Smith, one of the founding voices of the skramz genre.
“Fade Away” opens with a panicked riff before a propulsive snare roll detonates into a full-band attack, with Smith’s unhinged vocal tearing through the finale. It encapsulates everything Knumears do well: wildly swinging dynamics, crushing ferocity, and unabashed vulnerability, all delivered with the kind of raw urgency that defines the screamo tradition at its best. “I think what draws us to this music is the absolute raw emotion,” says guitarist and vocalist Matthew Cole. “All of it has something in common, and that’s feeling so strongly about it that all they can do is scream.”
Recorded by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Joyce Manor, Touche Amore) at Atomic Garden, ‘Directions’ is steeped in the confusion of exiting adolescence and the challenge of deciding what carries forward and what gets left behind. Cole’s lyrics dig deep into familial love, drawing from his relationships with his father and grandmother. “Your one true love could be your grandma or your best friend, not just a significant other,” he says. “A lot of these lyrics are about the people who shape my creativity.” That emotional specificity gives the album its backbone, running beneath the genre’s most explosive sonic tradition.
Formed in 2021, Knumears have spent five years in near-constant motion, building from packed local shows to national touring, carrying the torch for one of the most enduring corners of 1990s hardcore. ‘Directions’ is equal parts love letter and cartography project, tracing the genre from its roots to the contemporary West Coast scene while contributing something genuinely new to the conversation.