Released July 11, 2025

Piqued is the final solo album from Jeffrey Runnings, best known as the singer, bassist, and lyricist of Lincoln, Nebraska post-punk band For Against. After decades of influential work spanning multiple projects, Runnings recorded Piqued at home on an 8-track Tascam cassette recorder. 

There is no studio polish, no session musicians, no edits. Just Runnings, alone, tracking synths, guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. The sound is minimalist and emotionally restrained. The album was recorded entirely at home on an eight-track cassette machine, giving it a raw, analog feel that’s been described as “simultaneously bleak and cinematic” (musicconnection.com).

Stylistically, Piqued sits somewhere between the stripped-back textures of Runnings’ earlier project Marble Giants and the melodic sensibility he carried through For Against. The structures are loose and brief, often fading out quickly or ending abruptly. Some songs feel like sketches, others more fully formed. The emotional tone is subdued and internal.

The vinyl edition was released by Independent Project Records (catalog number IP092CV) and consists of two 12-inch records. The main album is pressed on opaque pink vinyl. The second record, a bonus EP on clear silver vinyl, features four songs recorded in the late 1980s, two of which were previously unreleased. Also included are three postcards featuring original artwork by Runnings and a printed insert with liner notes. The packaging was printed using letterpress by Bruce Licher at Independent Project Press in Bishop, California.

All four bonus tracks are also available digitally on platforms such as iTunes.

Piqued is not a retrospective or curated collection. It is a raw document of where Runnings was creatively in his final years. No attempt was made to modernize the sound or turn these songs into something they weren’t. That decision is what gives this record weight.

Jeffrey Runnings passed away in on March 3rd, 2025. His music had already left its mark long before then, but Piqued feels like a final note only he could have written. It wasn’t made to be a farewell, but it works as one anyway. Honest, quiet, and completely his own.

For Against meant a lot to me. Their records always felt different from other post-punk I listened to growing up. I remember learning a few of their songs during guitar lessons years back like Get On With It, Svengali, It's a Lie. Runnings’ voice stood out because it didn’t sound like what you’d expect from the genre. It wasn’t deep or gloomy. It was light, sharp, and strangely removed in a way that gave the music its own kind of beauty. That sound has stayed with me ever since.

https://jeffreyrunnings.bandcamp.com/album/piqued

~ZADAR