Drones are a powerful force, capable of whisking our thinking mind far, far, away. Austin-based collective Water Damage yields the same power whenever they pick up their instruments. Veterans from other projects (a.o. Spray Paint, Black Eyes, Swans, USA/Mexico, More Eaze and more), the band is not unfamiliar with the unshakeable power of music; still, as Water Damage, they stretch out drone’s possibilities to their limits, bowing to the principle Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation. Once an idea takes off, they pursue it forever; as Pitchfork said, their 2024 double LP In E doubles as a “glorious mind eraser”.
The approach serves as a structure upon / through which the wind can blow - and to move between these things. It’s going headfirst into something both held and impossible to hold.
As with most Water Damage music, Reel LE is an attempt to contrast how much syncopation (drums) and movement (bass) we could use against a steady drone (stringed instruments), and how that juxtaposition affects one's aural focus over an extended period of time. There are motifs and rhythms to hold onto, but also floating ephemeral sounds, voices that come out of the combination of tones everyone is playing, a sort of waveform detritus. An opportunity to lose focus and look through. An intro to a song that never starts. An outro to a song that never ends. Intent receding into the music and just letting go.
Durational music involves an alternative timespace… a lost sense of the minutes or hours that typically organize the day. Given that all of our performances/recordings land somewhere between 20-30 minutes, a particular piece at a particular time can feel to go by faster or slower than that.
– Travis Austin
For this recording Water Damage is Mari Maurice, Thor Harris, Nate Cross, Danielle Moran, George Dishner, Travis Austin, Mike Kanin, Greg Piwonka and Jeff Piwonka.
Engineered by Max Deems at Diseased Tapes Billion Dollar Studio.
Mixed and Mastered by Travis Austin.