Dublin duo T R Y S T E deliver emotional blackgaze on their new EP ‘To Rise You Seek The End’. Gabriel Gaba handles vocals and guitar while John O’Kelly takes on production and guitar, creating what they call emotionally heavy, heavy music. The EP seamlessly blends the soaring melodies of Jeff Buckley with the melancholic folk of Bon Iver and the crushing vastness of Holy Fawn and Deafheaven. Session drummer Nicola Dusmanic brought the programmed drums to life in the studio. Brad Boatright from Audiosiege Studios in Portland handled the mastering.
The five tracks pull from classic shoegaze, 80’s goth, post-rock and post-metal. Opening track “The Long Journey” spans eight minutes and becomes a microcosm of the entire EP, moving from avalanches of double bass and guitar swathes to ambient verses that glide with unease. “Abandon” introduces piano and electronic elements with soaring choruses that feel like endless vistas. “Pipe Dream” marks the halfway point as the first track John wrote for the project, offering a more straight up rock song. “Analysis / Paralysis” arrived fully formed and constantly evolves through separate movements before reaching its devastating blackgaze crescendo. Gabriel says of the closing track “Vessel”, it was the song he’d been trying to write all along.
Gabriel penned the lyrics during a period where his mental health issues had become more acute in the wake of the pandemic. Themes of mortality, depression and anxiety snake through the EP. The duo prefer to write in isolation before demoing and sharing, then the process becomes entirely collaborative. John recorded all lead guitars, rhythm guitars, bass and synth at Westland Studios where he previously worked as a professional recording engineer. Gabriel handled vocals, rhythm guitars, synth, piano and ambient sections remotely. The sonic palette pulls from endless influences while maintaining the juxtaposition of light and dark, beauty and ugliness, melancholia and elation at its core.