By Alex Mitrani
22 March 2026
The Argument was recorded january and february 2001 at Inner Ear with piano parts on ‘the kill’ and ‘strangelight’ recorded at Dischord House. It was released in october 2001, despite everything, together with the Furniture single which contained 3 songs recorded in the same sessions as the album but kept separate because there was too much material for an album but not enough for a double album. Six of the songs had been played live prior to being recorded, with live debuts going back as far as november 1998 (oh). The other four songs - ‘full disclosure’, ‘life and limb’, ‘the kill’, and ‘strangelight’ - were worked out during the recording process and introduced to live audiences afterwards. That makes The Argument the Fugazi album with most studio compositions, as the previous ones were almost entirely road-tested material with maybe one or two studio compositions.
The cover art is a photograph showing details of a bronze engraving that is part of the Heald Square Monument in Chicago, IL, USA (Taft 1941) - in particular it shows two hands of Lady Liberty pointing in opposite directions. The artwork opens out to the left and right from the vertical center line to reveal a photo of a memorial to Sandra Scheur, a victim of the 1970 shooting of students at Kent State by members of the Ohio National Guard - she is referenced in several songs by other artists including ‘Ohio’ by Neil Young (Wikipedia Contributors 2026).
The untitled track at the beginning includes an extract from a field recording of a whole band near-death experience from 1995, made on a motorway in Scotland on the way to catch a ferry to Belfast when the driveshaft of the van disengaged and speared the asphalt. The story was told and some of the recording was played at the start of the Queen’s Hall, Belfast show on the 9th of May 1995 (Fugazi 1995).
Fugazi broadened and deepened their sound significantly on this album, adding a second drummer, backing vocals, cello, piano, whistling and hand claps. Jerry Busher played second drums on ‘epic problem’, ‘oh’ and ‘ex-spectator’, and also provided additional percussion on ‘cashout’, ‘the kill’, ‘strangelight’, ‘nightshop’ and ‘argument’. Brendan Canty mentioned in interviews that the addition of a second drummer was partly inspired by listening to drum & bass and jungle music at parties at the Pirate House (where Brendan and Guy were living at the time). Bridget Cross (Unrest) sang backing vocals on ‘life and limb’ and ‘full disclosure’ and was joined by Kathi Wilcox (Bikini Kill) who sang additional backing vocals on ‘full disclosure’. Amy Dominguez (Garland of Hours) played cello on several tracks - the untitled intro track, ‘cashout’ and ‘strangelight’, although on one of these the cello part ended up being replaced by a guitar played to sound like a cello. The piano on ‘the kill’ and ‘strangelight’ was probably played by Ian MacKaye, who has said in interviews that he considers it to be his main instrument.
As with other Fugazi albums, all songs are credited to the band as a whole because while people would have brought in parts, all songs were put together in practice by the band working together. Lead vocals alternate, like in the live shows: cashout (Ian) - full disclosure (Guy) - epic problem (Ian) - life and limb (Guy) - the kill (Joe) - strangelight (Guy) - oh (Guy) - ex-spectator (Ian) - nightshop (Guy) - argument (Ian).
I love this album, every time I listen to it I enjoy it again and notice things that I had not noticed previously. It retains all the elements that I liked from the band’s previous work and at the same time it is much more adventurous, sounds more interesting, has several significant shifts in mood and tempo, and plenty of nice surprises. On previous albums Fugazi made notable use of quiet / loud dynamics, unexpected pauses, and very prominent use of bass guitar where the bass becomes the protagonist and the guitars play rhythm. The Argument extends this playfulness in new ways with contrasting moods and rhythms, abrupt twists and turns, things going off in unexpected directions. Many of the songs sound tuneful, upbeat and - dare I say it - happy - but the lyrical themes explored are critical and heavy as ever. Ian MacKaye described the album as an ‘anti-war manifesto’, which applies in particular to the title track, sadly as topical as ever - “It’s all about strikes now / So here’s what’s striking me / That some punk could argue / Some moral ABC’s / When people are catching / What bombers release / I’m on a mission / To never agree”. It ends abruptly and far too soon.
