Tunic : A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung
Miscarriage is an incredibly difficult subject to write about. I’m not a parent, but I can’t begin to fathom the feelings of loss, disappointment, and anger that must result from the expectation that one is going to produce and rear another person, only to have that expectation upended by the cruelest twist of medical circumstances. I can therefore only surmise that the experience of creating Winnipeg noise rock duo Tunic’s fourth album, A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung, must have been an extremely emotionally painful experience for the band’s guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter, David Schellenberg. The record consists of six songs that deal with his wife and his experience of losing their unborn child in early 2023, with the lyrics being lifted from actual conversations about the sad turn of events the two of them had with each other during its immediate aftermath. It is, as one might expect, the band’s slowest, saddest, and darkest album yet.
Whilst previous Tunic albums have been dominated by Schellenberg’s treble-heavy guitar, here his instrument sounds a lot more down-tuned and Tomas Ingham’s bass is much higher up in the mix. Opening track “Sorrow’s Grip” establishes this sound very effectively, before it becomes more maximalist on “Ordinary Unique Pain,” a song that sounds tonally not dissimilar to Tunic’s neighbors, KEN mode. As you might expect, the starkness of the lyrics is emphasized by the confessional tone of Schellenberg’s delivery of them. You almost feel like you’re eavesdropping on a marital argument as he intones: “You told me it’s just you and this body / Void of life, void of meaning.” This uneasy tone continues as Schellenberg yells primally about how he “want[s] everyone to endure this suffering” that he and his wife are going through.
The guitar and bass take on an even more ominous tone on “The Sharpening of a Blade.” Even though they sound foreboding, this sort of tone to a large extent undercuts the lyrics being intoned, because Schellenberg is singing about horrible events that have already happened, rather than ones that are going to happen. His vocals, however, in combination with his guitars, sound actively angry at what has happened on “Eyes Crossed Out” and “Spoiled Fruit.” He even sounds close to tears on finale “No Greater Loss,” as he sings: “You thought you knew what pain was … it’s not my body, but it’s still my pain.” Over six-and-a-half minutes, the song builds and subtly accelerates towards one of the biggest, bleakest cacophonies Tunic have ever created. Unlike that other notable album about grief and personal loss, Stage Four by Touche Amore, A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung does not conclude on a note of spiritual uplift for its narrator, but instead ends with him screaming about the “pain of loss” he is feeling and the “constant … cruel reminder” of it with which he has been left.
A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung is Tunic’s most powerful and accomplished album to date, although the starkness of its music and lyrics makes it their least straightforwardly enjoyable, which I by no means intend to write as a criticism. Like last year’s most intensely personal noise rock album, Uniform’s American Standard, its raw power and harrowing nature mean it is not a piece of work that will reward repeat listens. It deals with the sort of loss that I don’t imagine any amount of therapy can fully heal, but I hope David Schellenberg and his wife have been able to achieve some small amount of catharsis through the writing, recording, and release of it. As much as I enjoyed seeing Tunic in London in 2022, I was relieved to learn from a statement accompanying the album that the band will not be touring A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung, as David and his wife are having to prepare for the arrival of their first child in May.
Label: Midwest Debris
Year: 2025
Similar Albums:
