Hour of the Shipwreck

PRESS
Prefixmag
Track Review: Hour of the Shipwreck “The Chandelier Suite”
This new track from L.A.’s Hour of the Shipwreck has an undeniable filmic quality, its soothing post-rock passages crashing heroically into jagged guitars, waves of discordant synths and - eat your heart out, James Horner. - a full freakin’ choir, deployed perfectly. But “cinematic” just doesn’t do “The Chandelier Suite” justice, because movie music rarely rocks this hard. If you wish Danny Elfman had larger balls, Hour of the Shipwreck is for you. No news on just when the full-length is coming out, but if you’re in L.A. you can catch the band at one of their monumental concerts. Finely textured as this song is, they pull it off beautifully live (sans choir, unfortunately).
YTSE
Their music is indescribable, yet this is one of the best 4AD albums not on the 4AD label. The melodies on The Hour is Upon Us are massive, perplexed by a consistent haunting mood that is possessed by Hour of the Shipwreck, a band that puts a Baroque/Victorian attitude to the forefront of their musical monstrosity… Hour of the Shipwreck pertain to their own formula of not only dark progressive rock, but also doom laden college/indie rock as well, in fact, the worlds of both collide here… musically organic, offering up a breath of fresh air in the world of sophisticated art-rock, not jumping on any bandwagon, for Hour of the Shipwreck are their own entity, being truly inventive with their own approach.
Subba-cultcha
Stirring soundscapes and soaring vocals form the best movie soundtrack never used onscreen… soaring vocals and layers of music forming a dreamy soundscape with enough depth and body to be almost tangible… vocals are obviously indebted to Jeff Buckley’s falsetto… EPIC really is the only way to describe this album!
The Tape Is Not Sticky
They play a mix of dreamy pirate rock and Danny Elfman inspired music… one of the greatest rock performances I have ever seen… If they don’t get famous off this album their is something wrong with the world.
Mish Mash
Hour Of The Shipwreck is dark and misty… with a touch of Radiohead-meets-Pink Floyd… a full vocal choir moves the disc beyond a mere rock record into something special… the album is haunting and beautiful
Prefixmag
There was once a time when you could walk down a cobblestone street, horses clomping as they drew carriages of noblemen from one baron's mansion to the next, and pass by the members of Hour of the Shipwreck without batting an eyelash. But times have changed, and in a Los Angeles music scene obsessed with rehashing the sounds and fashion of the seventies, a quintet of musicians festooned in the garb of the nineteenth-century upper crust and swarthy pirates is bound to stick out. But this two-year-old ensemble has never played by the rules: with its long-form art songs winding their way through decaying forests of gothic folk, jazz harmonies and sublimely textured post-rock, Hour of the Shipwreck sounds like nobody else.
Rocknworld
Taking the restless nature of the Gabriel-era Genesis and spiking it liberally with a dose of acid-drenched early Pink Floyd results in Hour of the Shipwreck. This atmospheric soundscape set of songs sounds like what Tom Waits would produce (music only --- not the vocals) if he went on a Bjork bender for several weeks.
Prefixmag
Barbez are perfectly twinned with L.A.’s own Hour of the Shipwreck, whose lengthy, avant-pirate chanties veer between unconventional post rock and beautifully textured art music.
MusicGlob
Very different/experimental/unique... the more you listen, the more you understand.
HOUR OF THE SHIPWRECK can be heard on these RADIO STATIONS across the US and Canada
KHSU Arcata CA
KCSS Modesto-ish CA
KCR San Diego CA
KSJS San Jose CA
KUSP Santa Cruz CA
KDNK Carbondale CO
KBUT Crested Butte CO
WHUS Storrs CT
WEFT Champaign IL
WMXM Lake Forest IL
WVUR Valparaiso IN
KSLU Hammond LA
WHFR Dearborn MI
KDHX St. Louis MO
WSCA Portsmouth NH
KBVR Corvallis OR
KRVM Eugene OR
KSYM San Antonio TX
TRSW San Marcos TX
KAOS Olympia WA
WORT Madison WI
CJSW Calgary