In 2025, emo veterans Algernon Cadwallader and pop-punk cult favorites the Starting Line both released their first albums in over a decade. (The Starting Line, for what it's worth, also got namechecked on Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department.) While all that was going on, it turns out Algernon guitarist Joe Reinhart and Starting Line frontman Ken Vasoli were also sitting on some unreleased material they'd made together. Now, that'll be coming out in May in the form of Permanence, a new LP under the moniker FILM.
Permanence also serves as the final recordings of drummer TJ DeBlois, who played in the short-lived Philly punk band Halfway To Holland around the same time Algernon and the Starting Line were both getting started. In 2023, DeBloid died unexpectedly at age 38: "I think people need to hear this, not because we did this amazing thing, but for TJ's sake," Reinhart explains in a press release. "This is the last thing he played on. He was such an important drummer to so many people, and he's been one of my closest friends for twenty years."
Permanence was initially meant to be a demo, but after DeBlois' passing, Reinhart and Vasoli decided to put it out as-is. "The production is the lack of production," Reinhart adds of the very promising "Roundabout," a blast of riffs and thrashing drums that sound remarkably clean in spite of the lo-fi nature. Check that out along with the full album tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Reassurance"
02 "Dumber"
03 "Roundabout"
04 "Diminished Return"
05 "Loyalty Program"
06 "Blurry"
07 "Rings True"
Permanence is out 5/22 via Lauren.
