Wrekmeister Harmonies, led by musician and composer JR Robinson, is an experimental music collective. Named after the Béla Tarr movie Werckmeister Harmonies, it combines elements of drone music, serialism, post-rock, and heavy metal. Wrekmeister Harmonies typically performs a single composition, often almost an hour in length, beginning with a slow build, shifting into a cathartic middle section, concluding with either a peaceful or disquieting resolution.[1][2]
In 2013, Wrekmeister Harmonies was signed to independent label Thrill Jockey,[3] toured internationally with Grails and headlined in Europe.[4]
Wrekmeister Harmonies' albums have been featured in year-end lists of major publications and were praised by music critics. Saby Reyes-Kulkarni of Pitchfork Media rated "Night of Your Ascension" as 7.8/10[5] and listed it among his top ten metal albums of 2015.[6] John Doran of The Quietus included "Then It All Came Down" among his "Quietus Albums of the Year 2014".[7]Spin selected “You've Always Meant So Much to Me” as one of the “20 Best Metal Albums of 2013,”[8] and Grayson Currin of Pitchfork rated the album as 7.9/10.[9] Andy Gensler of the Village Voice listed “Recordings Made in Public Spaces” as one of the top 10 Pazz and Jop albums of 2009.[10]