Artist: Tryste
Title: To Rise You Seek The End
Type: EP
Label: Digital
A bit of a catch up from last year, this debut EP by the Dublin duo of Gabriel Gaba (also of doomsters Death The Leveller) and John O’Kelly (a producer and also with his own project Inner Circles) came to my attention via the band themselves so with a description including ‘post-metal, blackgaze and modern shoegaze’ I admit I approached it with wariness (don’t ask, it’s an age (I remember when and why ‘shoegaze’ was coined)/sub-genre/spectrum brain thing… ) but hopefully an open mind.
‘The Long Journey’ begins with a beautifully smooth, echoing meoldic sound with gaze turned downwards and a melancholy feel. The guitars come in nice and heavy and with the superb harsh vocals and somewhat discordant moments I’m very much reminded of mid period Katatonia. The clean vocals come in, a beautiful and controlled tone with an excellent range, and there’s a little Floyd in there too, a skirting the edges of prog and then… then that voice lifts and its almost melodeath; strong, vibrant and deeply emotional a feel solidified as the music bites harder and heavier. That, my friends is a pretty fine how-do-you-do…
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could dim the city lights? So you could see only stars…” says ‘Abandon’. Soft piano and keyboards, a shuffling fast patter of delicate drumming. The outburst of raw emotion that follows is gorgeous. Its a song that sways in a warm embrace as the lyrics, to me, explore how we walk headlong into too much of everything and there is so much we should simply let go of. Maybe. The mood can flow from soft to turbulent and back with perfect touch, leaving a full taste of modern prog to me; touches of melodeath in the yearning vocals, sweeping vistas of music that takes your hand and lead you upwards and all wrapped in an excellent production.
‘Pipe Dream’ has a drive that reminds me of Lonely Robot at their more intense moments, “sometimes its hard to discern between resolve and vanity” is a line that hit me hard, if I’m honest. An insight into the world I suspect every creative person dwells in. though it has its moments of heavier, higher drama this is much more introspective room. I’m at an age where often thoughts drift over those years where nothing seemed to happen and yet, when you pick the moments you see everything there was an essnetial part of what I became and so ‘Pipe Dreams’ very much spoke to me.
‘Analysis/Paralysis’ builds from that ethereal, smooth sound that these days denotes ‘shoegaze’ and despite the title builds into a crescendo that feels like pure decision, movement and momentum which follows the lyrics nicely for me too. It’s a fantastic guitar voyage too, sparkling lead break and progressive exploration make it a fine listen indeed.
We close with ‘Vessel’, a song with a calmly.. desperate… feeling in its opening if that is not a contradiction. Strangely reminds me of some of Foals quiet moments of introspection. Again I cannot praise the production and the vocals highly enough; they are, together, perfect. You can feel the lyrics being breathed across your skin and into your soul, that lightly strummed guitar the most persuasive of currents in the water, a tidal tug that grows and grows until a decision must be made; struggle or follow. And there it left me; alone on some shore, looking out across the ocean as the light fades. No idea where I am, if there is anything more left to me but with a devestating mixture of regret and acceptance settled within.
That is what music can be about; parallels the music and your own soul. Paths taken, roads untravelled and the finite time allowed…
This is a beautiful, deft and unafraid debut. One where the oft parroted idea that it ‘explores emotions’ for once actually holds true. It does. And it make you think of your own path. That is what it is about, all wrapped up in some gorgeous compositions.
Shoegaze? Blackgaze? I guess so, but also modern prog, flirting with the most melodic of death metal in some of the heavier moments but all painted with an instinctive and graceful brush.
I really want to see where Tryste (which is an acronym of the EP title btw…) go as I feel all the way through this EP that there is also a restless need to explore and an untapped spirit of turbulence here. If you need music for those moments when you need to reflect upon things, this is your companion. It won’t answer the questions but it will open your eyes a little more honestly to what those questions might actually be.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 