Icelandic outfit Low Roar have spent years time shifting between indie rock, post-punk and post-rock atmospheres, deftly skirting the edges of each genre to draw from these fertile musical landscapes. However, with the death of founder Ryan Karazija in 2022, the music seemed poised to come to an end. But then it was announced that material they’d been working on prior to his death would be completed, released as posthumous album called House in the Woods. Working once again with producer Andrew Scheps, the band finished fleshing out these new songs, crafting a fitting tribute to their departed bandmate.
They embrace an electronic subtlety on recent single “Just How It Goes”, recalling the measured grooves of Majical Cloudz and How To Dress Well. There’s a fragility to the music, even when the weightless blips and squiggles rise into an environmental cacophony, dragging in darker hued melodies anchored by Ryan’s honeyed vocals. The track always seems to be in motion, making its way upward, rising above the surrounding ache of the world to find someplace where it can rest and just enjoy the view. Eventually, sleigh bells and piano and clattering percussion lead us home as we remember missing friends and the joy of their memory.
Listen to “Just How It Goes” below.
House in the Woods is due out Feb 7 via Tonequake Records. Follow the band on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
