Wreck and Reference return with new LP, ‘Stay Calm’, unveil two new singles
Wreck and Reference return with fifth LP Stay Calm
Incoming August 22 on The Flenser [pre-order]
Photo credit: Wreck and Reference
How can one stay calm when it is inherently terrifying to be alive in the first place? For Felix Skinner and Ignat Frege, staying calm means facing the void head-on.
Fifteen years ago, two men emerged from an overheated garage in the harrowing wastelands of California with a singular vision for the future of dark, intense music: tortured samples, blasted acoustic drums, and a distinct lack of guitars. They walked straight past the orthodoxies of metal music and into the weird new dawn of electronic experimentalism. Since then, heavy music has evolved – yet Wreck and Reference's vision remains fresh, transgressive, and undeniably existential in its pressure against the current breed.
A lot has happened in the world since Wreck and Reference's last full-length, Absolute Still Life. Between a global pandemic, swirling political environment, and the rise of artificial intelligence, their new album Stay Calm is over five years in the making. It is in constant flux, a record that refuses to be inoculated, assimilated, or inured to the atrocities of daily life. It asks: is it fruitless to stake a claim in the all-too-fleeting ordeal of existence? Whatever the answer, embrace the implications.
Listen / share new singles "Burning" + "The Cup"
Wreck and Reference's fifth full-length is a meditation on the horror of modern life; a wild ride that never loses its focus. Seatbelts off, please.
More soon.
Wreck and Reference, live:
Aug 24 Seattle, WA — Mudlark Oddities
Aug 25 Portland, OR — Azoth
Aug 27 Oakland, CA — Thee Stork Club
Aug 30 Los Angeles, CA — LAX
Stay Calm, track list:
Healthy InstinctBurningThe CupA CureNill ArmAll That I WantDogtrackingThe FloodBe Careful
