Carnival

Description

Trauma Ray, a band from Fort Worth, delivers their strongest, most intense, and most experimental compositions on their album Carnival, the result of a tumultuous year. The meteoric success of Chameleon, their first album released in 2024 on Dais Records, cemented the band's place in the current shoegaze revival wave, while showcasing a diversity of styles that allows them to navigate between scenes. They notably toured in 2025 with bands like Deafheaven, Loathe, and Touché Amoré. Blending incisive riffs and raw beauty, their sound continues to evolve, paying homage to the greats of the loud-quiet-loud style, moving from metal to grunge and shoegaze, from Slowdive to the Smashing Pumpkins. Carnival explores darker, more introspective themes, as if holding one's past up to a distorting mirror. An unsettling atmosphere emanates from these tracks, conceived in a very short span of time, proving that the band excels under pressure and when confronting the darkest corners of their subconscious. Musically, the band readily acknowledges the influence of the tracks "Undone" and "Stuck on You" by Failure, a cult 90s band, as well as the omnipresent album Loveless by My Bloody Valentine: such is the beauty of Trauma Ray: five musicians who absorb, synthesize, and develop what they love. Carnival offers a brief and irresistible foray into darkness, from a band that continues to gain power.