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Absolute Still Life is the fourth full-length album by the experimental duo Wreck and Reference. The album marks a radical departure from the band’s heavy and noise rock origins and finds them driving toward a more electronic and abstract dimension. Like past albums, warped synthesizers and pillaged samples build up the harmonic elements of the songs,but the absence of acoustic drums givesAbsolute 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.
Absolute Still Life’scover 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.
To date, Wreck and Reference have released four EPs and three full-length albums. Their first work, an EP titledBlack Cassette, showcased distorted fragments and synthesizers in angular, heavy songs, with themes of determinism and Cormac McCarthy-esque isolation. Their debut full-lengthY̶o̶u̶t̶h̶(2012) and their sophomore releaseWant(2014), described by Pitchfork as having “radical vision” and “boundless experimentation,” represented dramatic expansions of their sonic palette. In 2016, Wreck and Reference released their third LP, Indifferent Rivers Romance End, perfecting their song craft and pushing their noisy, sample-based instrumentation to its limits.
1. Black vinyl.
2. Cyan colored vinyl. Limited to 500
4. Cyan colored vinyl + art book by the band. Limited to 300.
4. Series one membership edition. Pie slice colored vinyl (Cyan, Red, Mustard) plus art book. Limited to 150.
Out July 19 2019. Series one memberships will ship before then.
