Pitchfork

The three musicians in the R.G. Morrison-- who all go by their initials, including R.G. himself-- recorded this shamelessly mopey song in an old church in Cornwall, and the result is appropriately whispery and quote-unquote atmospheric. The song is so imperturbably quiet that it sounds like it could end midstrum. It takes puritan blisters and serious self-control to maintain this sort of melodic hush. Morrison the man starts the song with just his acoustic guitar and his voice, and the gradual introduction of J.R. Lamb's electric guitar and synths, followed by S.J. Grainger's roomy drums, doesn't increase the volume, just the intricacy of the layers. Eventually-- slowly-- "Learning About Loathing" reaches a quietly climactic momentum as R.G. sings "I'm not a timecode" over and over and the song gently winds down, its big moment come and gone.