Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly was the one and only full-length album by experimental post-punk innovators, Moss Icon. Recorded in 1988, Lyburnum would not be released until 1993 – several years after Moss Icon’s demise. Originally released on Vermiforn – the esoteric noise label founded by Sam McPheeters of Born Against – the vision that Moss Icon’s Tonie Joy had for Lyburnum failed to manifest in its finished product.
An uphill battle that involved misplaced photos, misunderstood instructions and increasing apathy, Lyburnum ended up being an it-is-what-it-is situation. Despite these challenges and shortcomings, Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly was instantly cherished as a feral masterpiece–a singular entity that would become a defining influence on post-hardcore and emo in the 1990s and beyond. Nothing before sounded like this, and nothing since has quite captured the same mysterious fury.
Now, finally, Moss Icon’s seminal Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP will be released exactly as it was always intended to look, sound, and feel. The artwork has been fully restored, and includes previously unpublished photos that were inadvertently missing from the original release. Brilliantly remastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music, the vinyl has been newly cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and pressed onto audiophile-grade vinyl at RTI.
