Carnival

Description

Trauma Ray, a band from Fort Worth, delivers in their album Carnival their strongest, most intense, and experimental compositions, the result of a tumultuous year. The meteoric success of Chameleon, their first album released in 2024 on Dais Records, has solidified the band in the current wave of shoegaze revival, while showcasing a diversity of styles, allowing 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 great names of the loud-quiet-loud style, moving from metal to grunge and shoegaze, from Slowdive to the Smashing Pumpkins. Carnival explores darker and more introspective themes, as if one were putting their past in front of a distorting mirror. A disturbing atmosphere emanates from these tracks, crafted in a very short time, proving that the band excels under pressure and when confronted with the darkest corners of their unconscious. Musically, the band readily acknowledges the influence of the tracks "Undone" and "Stuck on You" by Failure, a cult band from the 90s, 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, within a band that continues to gain in power.