Destroyer 1

Description

Five years have passed since the release of Joyland, the last album by Robert Alfons aka TR/ST, and the musician has spent that time writing and recording tracks between Ontario and Los Angeles, working with many talented collaborators. Maya Postepski, who had previously worked with Alfons on his very first album, co-wrote and co-produced six tracks on The Destroyer. Alfons also collaborated with producers Lars Stalfors and Damian Taylor to refine the sound of the record. But the main ingredient in the creation of the album was patience. "The giant agaves near my home only bloom once every 20 or 30 years. Being present when it happened taught me a lot about slowness. And about tenacity," explains Alfons, noting that radically changing pace was crucial in the conception of The Destroyer. Iris, the first song written for the album, began to take shape in late 2014, just before Alfons moved to Los Angeles, a city that contributed significantly to the album. "It's a gigantic, frenetic place, buzzing with life and sound," he recounts, "But you can also feel very alone there. In a way, this contrast inspired the new direction I wanted to take." It was while writing Iris that Alfons found the atmosphere for the sixteen tracks that make up The Destroyer, divided into two discs. "In terms of lyrics and mood, Iris is very representative of the album. Musically, it has warmth, melody, and joy, but also isolation and industrial sounds. It was a contrast I wanted to play with from the beginning." Indeed, Destroyer – 1, consisting of 8 tracks, highlights industrial passages and dream pop influences in songs like Colossal and Gone, showcasing Alfons's talent for shimmering sounds and a certain vocal power.