The Library is On Fire - Degeneration Elegies
Originally hailing from what the kids now call the Indie Sleaze era of the 2000-2010’s Bushwick music scene, The Library is On Fire returns in 2026 with the release of Degeneration Elegies, the band’s first album in over 10 years.
Upon moving to NYC in 2004, singer/guitarist Steve Five was looking for ideas. While writing songs in his Bushwick apartment & working at the Strand Bookstore, Five took the band’s name, La Bibliothèque Est en Feu, from a poem by antifascist & proto-surrealist war poet René Char, after weekly meetings over coffee during Strand lunchbreaks with Television guitarist Tom Verlaine, who championed the name.
The band would go on to release a number of albums, including 2010’s Magic Windows, Magic Nights produced by Guided by Voices producer Todd Tobias, kicking off a long friendship with GBV. Eventually former bassist Mark Shue would join Guided by Voices. The band released a number of now out-of-print albums, as well as 2014’s Halcyon & Surrounding Areas, before going on hiatus.
In 2022, The Library is On Fire began writing & recording songs for a new album. Showcasing a darker, more alchemical & mature sound, Steve read a lot of psychologist Carl Jung and physicist David Bohm, then bought a cheap, out-of-fashion Ibanez 7-string student model (nicknamed The Subliminal Messenger) and modded it with the express intention of writing Big Star and Glen Campbell songs with Limp Bizkit’s Cutting Tools. The band tuned from E standard to B standard, five steps down, then tweaked the relative pitch from the 440hz standard to the New Age Woowoo of 432hz A, just for good measure. Themes of DEGENERATION ELEGIES relate to Spiritual Psychosis, The Collapse of Civilization due to Climate Change, Fascism, Love, and Redemption – every rabbit hole explored, every wish resigned.
In March 2025, The Library is On Fire sent final mixes of Degeneration Elegies to Grammy-winning mastering engineer Mike Tucci (Wu Tang, Ice Spice). The album features guest appearances by Richard Lloyd of Television and Mike Watt of Minutemen and Iggy & The Stooges. A sprawling, grungegazy, and at times orchestral 13-track album, Degeneration Elegies clocks in at just under an hour, showcasing the band at its height of songwriting & performance. “Its the best group of songs I’ve ever recorded.” Five says.
Degeneration Elegies was released in Fall 2025 as a Trade-Paperback Book with accompanying CD/cassette + Digital Download. The full-length will be made available on DSPs after a series of singles EPs, culminating in the album throughout 2025 & into 2026. Degeneration Elegies & Other Writings is a grimoire-esque paperback that features an updated Manifesto, lyrics & production notes for the album, an essay of philosophical psychobabble called Harmonic Oscillation States, & more. An accompanying “reference map” was also created by the band, and artist Michael Bauer.