Los Angeles/New York duo Wreck and Reference have shared the video for Sturdy Dawn, which is lifted from their new album titled ‘Absolute Still Life’. It’s the duo’s first proper album since 2016’s ‘Indifferent Rivers Romance End,’ and their biggest sonic evolution yet in a career whose only constant has been the groups ability to defy all classification. Check out the video for this heavy, punishing track via YouTube below.
Like past albums, the band deal in warped synthesizers and pillaged samples, but the absence of acoustic drums gives ‘Absolute Still Life’ a colder, more alien aesthetic. With fewer screams and stranger textures than before, Wreck and Reference find themselves alone again in uncharted and uncategorizable territory. It’s also the duo’s most accessible work, though that’s still a stretch – this isn’t music for the faint of heart.
Comprised of Ignat Frege and Felix Skinner, the band formed in 2009, and signed to The Flenser after mailing the label a cassette of early recordings. Since then the band has garnered mainstream recognition for their boundary pushing blend of warped electronics and hardcore punk influence.
Of the new album, the band write, “Absolute Still Life’s cover depicts a sickly still life in which edible and inedible elements mix in an unnatural and unappetizing collage of bright colors. The title reflects the absurdist version of reality that we find ourselves in and unable to escape.”
Buy the album via The Flenser.
Find ‘Absolute Still Life’ on Apple Music + Spotify
