Despite being born thousands of kilometres from the Appalachian Mountains, the music of that region runs deep through Kasey Chambers’ and Shane Nicholson’s second album. There is, however, a more pronounced traditional country flavour than on 2008 debut Rattlin’ Bones, a result perhaps of the fact they were listening to legendary country duo The Louvin Brothers while writing. That process took place in a cabin in rural New South Wales that didn’t have phone reception, a solitude that inspired songs such as “The Quiet Life”. The basic set-up also informed the LP’s stripped-back instrumentation, with banjo, fiddle and mandolin the primary accompaniments to the twosome’s harmonising. . Though they would split in 2013, at the time of recording Wreck & Ruin Chambers and Nicholson were husband and wife, and the album addresses the trials of marriage, particularly on “Familiar Strangers” (“We can make believe it’s worth fighting for/But I don’t even know you anymore”). “Rusted Shoes” (about someone who is slow moving) and “Sick as a Dog” (written when the duo were under the weather) bring a levity to the album, before mournful meditation on death “Troubled Mind” brings it to a close on a sombre yet oddly peaceful note.