You may remember this American iconic duo for their iconic 2019 feature, which has gone down in history as one of the most awesomely and wholesomely bizarre shows to ever grace a dunk!festival stage. If you didn’t join us that year, then get ready to be amazed in a fantastically unconventional way! Introducing JR Robinson and Esther Shaw, better known as Wrekmeister Harmonies!

Wrekmeister Harmonies are what we love most about experimental music, that is, how the most disparate styles, the most disjointed song structures, unconventional compositional approaches and dissonant sounds all come together in one exhilarating sonic cauldron. In the case of Wrekmeister Harmonies, this is all executed with each effortless ease, that are only left to wonder how they can continue to innovate and push boundaries with each consecutive release. In theory, Wrekmeister Harmonies are an experimental drone/doom duo; in pratical terms they employ a wide array of instruments (mostly guitar and violin) to produce sprawling and immersive soundscapes that vary from the neo-classical to the noise rock-ish verging on pure improvisation. In simple terms: classify under unclassifiable.

We thought that a quick look at their discography might help you (and us) prepare for their show, which is one we’re e particularly looking forward to.

Their 2013 effort “You Always Meant So Much To Me” leaned more towards pure ambient music, with its dilated tempos, piano passages, strings, and (only) the occasional sound explosion. Though it retained the sinister aura, of many of Wrekmeister Harmonies’ previous works, the album sounded hopeful and uplifting. That would not be at all the case for the follow-up “Light Falls” which was positively crushing with its more central use of distorted guitars and overall heavier sonic palette, epitomised in the devastating “some were saved, some dronwed”. Robison’s pained and visceral screams, the suffocatingly thick layer of distortion and the almost concrete quality of this wall of sound gave the song hit with such brutal force that it resembled physical violence.

If you didn’t catch the drift, we’re huge Wrekmeister Harmonies fans, for their uncompromising compositional approachnthat is a constant reminder to dare. To dare to experiment, to dare to stray from the path, and to express oneself, and to be free. Their 2020 and 2024 records “We Love to Look at the Carnage” and “Flowers In Spring” are both testaments to that. Both records are an ode to experimentation, and while the first, with its tense and suspenseful soundscapes populated haunting spoken word passages, resounded more cohesive and streamlined, the latter, bordered on full-out improvisation, and with it loud, obsessive, and abrasive progression offered a positively shocking experience.

Self-described as “expansive and deeply personal” Robinson & Shaw’s compositions are exactly that: a desire for connection expressed in musical form; an invite to toss aside all differences and connect over what ultimately makes us all human, our immense vulnerability. “Serialist drone-rock”, “pastoral doom”, call it as you wish, Wrekmeister Harmonies’ sonic brilliance has an almost oncological quality to it in how it dives deep into the nature of being arriving at music’s true essence. Somewhat ominous yet always strangely hopeful, Wrekmeister Harmonies will once again take over our festival for one full hour of blissfully weird sonic exploration. We still don’t know what they have in store for us this time but we can guarantee you it’ll be epic.

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