Wrekmeister Harmonies

JR Robinson's Wrekmeister Harmonies attempts to bridge the gap between the drone / experimental, the neo-classical and the metal camps, worlds that have been crossed in some forms before to be sure but Robinson gives his forebears a run for them money in the expansive composition department. The album is one long track, 38 minutes split over two sides of vinyl and its original inception was as an accompaniment to a film that Robinson had shot in various locations (Joshua Tree, ruined sections of Detroit) and screened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. A crack group of musicians from metal's ranks was put together for the live screening, with members from Leviathan, Nachmystium, Mind Over Mirrors, Anatomy of Habit and Yakuza filling out the ranks. The screening was such a success that Robinson took the ensemble to Steve Albini for a proper recording that stands now as You've Always Meant So Much To Me. The result is a harrowing tableau of lonesome drones, hiss, degraded noise and moans that build to a towering schizm of thunder, earth, sky and guitar that feel just as destructively chaotic as the crest of any storm. The lines of classical nuance and metal combustion erode between the overlapping waves of guitar that build to the epic finale. Robinson proves that Wrekmeister are just as at home with the Sunn o))) crowd as they are with Johann Johannsson and the museum set. I can only imagine what a spectacle the piece is live but on record, it’s still a floor to ceiling house shaker and a good way to accompany any storm raging outside your windows.

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