According to pitchfork.com, Eugene Robinson, the lead singer of Oxbow, has announced he is leaving the band. Robinson, who co-founded and has been with the band for over 35 years, made a statement on Substack, explaining that the exit is due to “irreconcilable differences, none of them aesthetic or musical.” At this time Oxbow has not yet released an official statement.

In the following statement, Robinson says: “While I don’t feel that my life is being threatened, my physical life, I do feel, under the weight of irreconcilable differences, none of them aesthetic or musical, that I now must leave OXBOW. Recent circumstances have caused me several dark nights of the soul and while it feels/seems crazy to kill my involvement in that which I started, I think it necessary so that maybe a kind of healing can take place that will make OXBOW a comfortable place for me to be again. If not, then not.”

The artist continues with: “So the last five shows of the tour were scrapped and I’m sitting in a cheap hotel in Fuengirola, Spain, thinking of how the band began, and how the last video we just released from Love’s Holiday was so aptly named. ‘All Gone’ it was and perhaps seems to be.”

Robinson and guitarist Niko Wenner formed Oxbow in 1988 in San Francisco. Oxbow released their debut album, Fuck Fest, the following year and quickly gained a fanbase for their uniquely punishing, experimental noise rock and intensely raucous live performances. The band went on to release the records Let Me Be a Woman, Serenade in Red, Thin Black Duke and Love’s Holiday.