Fugazi emerged from the ashes of US punk bands Minor Threat and Rites Of Spring to become leaders of the late ‘80s DIY hardcore scene. Eleven years on, they still have all their original features: punchy, clipped songs that weave choppy, staccato guitars with dubby bass and fluid, jazzy drumming. Like Red Medicine, its predecessor, this album is less tightly wound than 1991’s scorching In On The Killtaker and has a generally more refined feel.

Kicking things off, Break has a classic Fugazi melodic chug which halts abruptly for a kind of sing-song vocal break that’s strangely Spanish-sounding and worlds away from their usually barked vocals. It sounds as if some of the album’s year-in-the-making genesis included lengthy jam sessions; on Closed Caption they meander more than is strictly necessary though the approach works brilliantly on the darker, dubbier Pink Frosty. For the uninitiated, this album may not be the requisite one-stop shop for Fugazi’s music, but it’s a fine record nonetheless.

IM: People don’t realise that when you ‘do it yourself’ it actually includes a lot of doing. We book ourselves, produce ourselves, everything….we could probably play every night of the year, the demand is there, but at some point we have to come home and book shows. Between the last two records there was a little bit more of a gap, caused primarily by the pneumonia I had which took me off the road for six months.

IM: I don’t think of myself as a political being, that’s something that’s really been pressed upon us. It’s always been an issue, you either talk about yourself or you don’t. We felt that our music spoke for itself. Journalists end up reading other articles and you get this feedback loop of who we are and how dogmatic we are. I wouldn’t even say it’s frustrating at this point, it’s more of an irritation. I remember our first 30 British reviews were all like, "They wear funny hats."

IM: I guess I wouldn’t. The record exists, so I don’t have to sum it up. Long ago, we became well aware that our music is not oxygen, it’s not necessary for human life. This is our representation, our expression; that’s all we have to say about it.

IM: The film is a long running project we started working on around the beginning of the band. Jem Cohen’s been a friend of the band since the start. It’s not exactly a concert video but there’s live stuff in it and it’s not exactly a narrative but there is a story of sorts. Primarily the idea was to create a visual record of the band. We’re at the difficult final edit where we decide what has to go.