Wreck and Reference: Indifferent Rivers Romance End

Titled Indifferent Rivers Romance End the cover of Wreck and References newest album depicts a statue of pre-socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus tied to a brick and drowned in a river of liquor and dirt. Heraclitus the weeping philosopher found comfort in the uniformity of the worlds chaos. Wreck and Reference is not at home in genre conventions relying on computers acoustic drums and voice the band has found an audience with the heavier crowd and fans of the experimental. Indifferent Rivers Romance End is a winding composition of ballads that interrogate the endurance of purpose love and change set against a backdrop of disillusionment draining into nihilism. The album sees Wreck and Reference employ the clarity of IDM and the rhythmic flood of trap as an experiment in pop metal and noise. Like all Wreck and Reference albums Indifferent Rivers Romance End was self-recorded but this time with increased use of digital synthesizers in lieu of samples creating a greater sense of fluidity and movement. In contrast to past work Indifferent Rivers Romance End is an album that allows the possibility of change even the necessity of it when the self comes to face the inevitability of continued life amidst the construction and destruction of relationships. Originally formed in 2011 by multi-instrumentalists Ignat Frege and Felix Skinner Wreck and Reference use computers drums and vocals to create a sound that is eccentric captivating and often unnerving. That same year the band recorded their first EP Black Cassette in a garage drawing upon the blown out intensity of black metal and the angularity of noise rock with themes of determinism and Cormac McCarthy-esque isolation. In 2012 their debut full length Youth represented a dramatic expansion of their sonic palette. In deeper darker tones Youth was a reflection on the opposing forces of dismissal and longing for both the past and the future questioning the value of life lived and life yet to come. These sounds and themes were pushed further in Wreck and References second full length Want in 2014. Described by Pitchfork as having radical vision and boundless experimentation Want expanded into a darker and more brooding territory plumbing the depths of isolation sadness and hopelessness as if written from inside a room with only a dimming window into a perfectly callous world.

1.1 Powders
1.2 Flight But Not Metaphor
1.3 Ascend
1.4 The Clearing
1.5 Liver
1.6 Modern Asylum
1.7 Manifestos
1.8 Bullwhips
1.9 Languish
1.10 Unwant


H 0.18
W 12.28
L 12.35