Review Summary: 🌊🌊🌊 A trough of disappointment.
Wreck and Reference are on the cusp of greatness. The electronic-doom duo have finally granted credence to Felix Skinner’s production, delivering an album comparably gentle in nature, allowing the synths and samples to take a bigger role. Dystopian in sound, the musicality is often the most convincingly emotive aspect of
Indifferent Rivers Romance End. On the flip side, the decision to utilize more spoken-word musings makes portions of their newest effort sound confusingly hokey. Opener “Powders” initially seems satirical, as though WnR are taking a jab at their navel-gazing selves. Lines like, “
I don’t know what you think when you fall asleep, but when I fall asleep all I can do is count my breaths,” feel like a disservice to the otherwise powerful songwriting. Skinner's repetition of, ”
that’s fine / that’s fine / that’s fine / that’s fine,” is even (deservedly) mocked in their bandcamp page’s drop-down lyrics by exaggerating the number tenfold. Flight of the Concords haven’t produced anything this awkwardly humourous.
The formula on
Indifferent Rivers Romance End works best when the vocals serve to supplement the electronic instrumentation and Ignat Frege’s drums. The two don't rely purely on their harsh vocal talents, which, granted, would sound incompatible with the more subdued songwriting. On “Flight but Not Metaphor”, they mimic a choir of the damned, reflecting on a life of vice with scattered introspection. It’s ironic that Wreck and Reference are most potent lyrically when the voices are masked and contorted. Elsewhere, lines like, “
a raven hobbles past with a broken wing / I follow it into abstraction,” (on “Manifestos”) are delivered with a sense of indulgence. “Bullwhips” is probably the most over-the-top vocal performance, yet, it connects better than most; it’s oddly easy to empathize with the exaggerated, grotesque shame expressed. Sorta like Disney’s Quasimodo. It isn’t until closer “Unwant” that Wreck and Reference really unlock the potential of their new sound. Ignat uses a humble, melodic vocal approach that sits below the surface; it’s one of the only moments where a vocalist truly surrenders to the ambience, resulting in the most immersive song present, and everything
Indifferent Rivers Romance End should be.
Enough can’t be said about the production; this could have easily been an instrumental work. “Flight but Not Metaphor” features slowly-ascending, yet frantic drumming, while the production imitates the ominous pulse of war horns. “The Clearing”, despite the slobbering ranting, is a great example of this apocalyptic catharsis they toy with. If dystopian music is meant to be dehumanizing and bleak, the sound on
Indifferent Rivers Romance End feels like a pilgrimage despite the corruption and societal collapse, with personal turmoil weighing heavy. It rarely needs lyrics, so it’s frustrating when Skinner is so heavy-handed with his wax-poetic narrative. Reviewer Andy O'Connor recently credited Wreck and Reference with "
paving the way for a new language that may go beyond metal." Ignoring the hamfisted Alan Vega comparison in the same paragraph, he isn't necessarily wrong. Wreck and Reference are teetering somewhere between synth-pop and doom metal (which sounds inevitably shitty in theory, but hey), and crafting sounds more powerful than most of their guitar-and-bass peers. Now if only Felix Skinner could just shut up and let his music speak.
