Low Roar was an Iceland-based

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

project founded by American immigrant

Ryan Karazija Ryan Joseph Karazija (March 19, 1982 – October 27, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter known as the founder and lead vocalist of the Icelandic post-rock/electronica project Low Roar, as well as fronting the Oakland-based indie band Audrye S ...

. Originally a solo act, the band later added musicians Leifur Björnsson and Logi Guðmundsson. After releasing five albums spanning over a decade, the band and the project itself were discontinued following the death of Karazija in October 2022. However, a posthumous sixth album was released on February 7th, 2025.

History

After leading the California-based indie rock band Audrye Sessions from 2002 to 2010, Karazija relocated to

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, Iceland and started the new project Low Roar, releasing a self-titled album in 2011.Svymbersky, Christopher (2012)
Ryan Moves to Iceland and Low Roar is Born
", ''Iceland Airwaves Journal''. Retrieved 15 April 2013 A second album, ''0'', was released in 2014 through Tonequake Records, followed by '' Once in a Long, Long While...'' in mid-2017. The Low Roar album, '' ross.'', was released in November 2019, and the fifth album '' maybe tomorrow...'' was released in July 2021. A sixth album, titled '' House in the Woods'', was released on February 7, 2025. The band's discography features heavily in the 2019 video game ''

Death Stranding ''Death Stranding'' is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Kojima Productions and originally published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their split from Konam ...

'', following a collaboration with video game designer

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...

, after Kojima chanced upon their music while in a CD shop in

. Kojima described Low Roar's music as "sensual" and "unique". When Sony first contacted the band to license their music for ''Death Stranding'', the band was struggling, with much of their music being recorded on a laptop in Karazija's kitchen. The use of Low Roar's music in the video game had a significant positive influence on the band's popularity. In 2021, they recorded the song "Feels" for the mobile game ''

Arknights ''Arknights'' is a free-to-play tactical RPG/tower defense mobile game developed by Hypergryph. It was released in China on 1 May 2019, in other countries on 16 January 2020, and in Taiwan on 29 June 2020. ''Arknights'' is available o ...

'', later released in full under the title "Fade Away" on their 2021 album. Their song "Help Me" plays over the end credits of the 2021 film '' Flee''. On 29 October 2022, it was announced that Ryan Karazija, founder and lead singer of the band, had died at the age of 40. Hours later, it was revealed that the cause of death was from complications with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. It was also announced that a sixth album, which was being worked on as of 2022, would be eventually released. On October 27, 2024, producer

Andrew Scheps Andrew Scheps is an American mix engineer, recording engineer, record producer, and record label owner based in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom. He has received Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album for his work on Red Hot Chili Peppers' '' Stadi ...

announced that the sixth album, '' House in the Woods'', was finished, along with a release date of February 7, 2025. Additionally, Scheps announced two singles to support the album; "Field of Dreams", releasing on December 6, and a second single releasing January 3, titled "Just How It Goes".

Discography

Albums

* ''

Low Roar Low Roar was an Iceland-based post-rock/electronica project founded by American immigrant Ryan Karazija. Originally a solo act, the band later added musicians Leifur Björnsson and Logi Guðmundsson. After releasing five albums spanning over a ...

'' (2011) * '' 0'' (2014) * '' Once in a Long, Long While...'' (2017) * '' ross.'' (2019) * '' maybe tomorrow...'' (2021) * '' House in the Woods'' (2025)

Soundtracks

* ''Death Stranding - Songs from the Video Game'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Casio Dream House'' (2014) * ''Hávallagata 30'' (2014) * ''Remix – EP'' (2015) * '' Inure'' (2020)

Live albums

* '' Live at Gamla Bíó'' (2015)

Singles

* "Waiting (10 Years)" (2017) * "The Sky Is Falling" (2018) * "I Won't Be Long" (2018) * "Slow Down" (2019) * "Darkest Hour" (2019) * "Do You Miss Me?" (featuring Emma Lindström) (2020) * "Everything to Lose" (2021) * "Hummingbird" (2021) * "Field of Dreams" (2024) * "Just How It Goes" (2025)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Icelandic post-rock groups Musical groups established in 2011 2011 establishments in Iceland