Guess what! I'm back from an amazing month-long trip to Europe. I met tons of friendly people, many of whom are just as obsessed with music as I am, which inevitably led to many new musical discoveries that I can't wait to talk about. But as the self-imposed format of my blog dictates, I have to review whatever happens to shuffle out of my library. So it's only fitting that my music library chose a Canadian act to welcome me back home.
Trust is a Canadian electronic music project which now consists solely of producer Robert Alfons. Joyland is Trust's second LP. It's very synth-poppy with some coldwave and video game soundtrack influence, quite similar to fellow Canucks, Crystal Castles. The album was also quite a grower for me, I only really enjoyed a few songs from it at first. But I'm now listening to all of Joyland front to back and finding myself liking it more and more. I think the biggest thing that held me back from really digging this record on first listen was Alfons' strangely robotic singing and the odd buzzy effect that is layered over his voice throughout, not to mention the parts where he pitch shifts his voice to a feminine squeak, like on the title track.
The songs that immediately stood out to me were also the darkest sounding (that tends to happen with a lot of albums I listen to, I'm beginning to think this says something about my personality...). Songs like Icabod and Four Gut are reminiscent of Crystal Castles' gloomier and colder sounding works, but with a distinctly energetic, dance feel that sets Trust apart from other coldwave acts. I also have to say that Alfons' weird vocal style grew on me, with the exception of his pitched up, feminine vocals on the track Joyland which takes centre stage. And even though this album has a rather bleak and chilly atmosphere (edit: I've been told Trust's older material is much darker), like all synth pop it is still incredibly danceable. It's not as if the whole thing is dark and gloomy either, Trust proves to be quite dynamic with some songs, like Peer Pressure, which is a bit more reminiscent of an old Capcom arcade fighter game than the darker songs in the middle of the album.
Digesting Joyland in its entirety has put Trust on my list of bands to watch in the near future. I'd like to see the project delve a bit deeper into the different styles and atmospheres displayed on this album, perhaps an entire record that sounds a bit more like Icabod and Four Gut, or maybe even an album that takes the video-game influence a bit further. In any case, I'm excited to see what Trust has to offer next.
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