PIJN

Loss HOLY ROAR

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the riffs stronger

loss: it’s a part of the human experience. Pijn’s second album deals with this concept in all its forms, creating a four-dimensional soundscape from their personal lives and from fans’ stories, working their way into the music and album art. Despite the bleak subject matter, Loss is oddly comforting; warming textures swell throughout the almost onehour runtime, encompassing all they touch, growing ever larger like Cartman’s trapper-keeper. Pijn embrace the riff on the likes of Distress and Blush, evoking flavours of Gojira or instrumental peers Pelican, but unlike other ‘post’ bands, Loss is more earthy, creating something much more connecting than those who insist on showing off their technicality. And while the instrumentation is a multi-layered tapestry of shimmering artistry, including an anxiety-inducing violin, its core is a yawning pit of grief. This is the sound of suffering. FOR FANS OF: BOSSK, WEAR YOUR WOUNDS, TALONS

LUKE MORTON