Right in time for the eerie season historically known as all hallow’s eve, we present the latest feast of sound from Toronto’s own alternative / postpunk duo TRAITRS. A definite powerhouse track in itself, ‘Ghost and The Storm’ is the last single we will be able to preview before Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker unleash this long-player ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ on the world. The video features actor Vince Groulx, who plays the part so realistically, driving home the ever-pervasive issue of mental health issues within our society.
This new offering follows earlier singles ‘Mouth Poisons’, ‘Oh, Ballerina’ and‘Magdalene’. The rising post-punk / darkwave stars have been on a steady holding pattern of powerful well-received singles they’ve released since signing to Freakwave Records, a Berlin-based label that is part of the Schubert Music Europe group, with distribution by The Orchard.
‘Ghost and The Storm’ was one of the first songs they ever recorded with producer Josh Korody (F*cked Up, Japandroids, Dilly Dally, Beliefs, Nailbiter) atCandle Recording Studio, who worked with them on this new album before being mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Prince, Linkin Park, Katy Perry).
TRAITRS was formed in 2015, gifting the musical world a cinematic blend of post-punk, goth, alternative and post-rock, their emotive melodies, propulsive rhythms, angular guitars and dark cinematic electronics quickly led to the duo becoming one of the dark music scene’s fastest rising independent artists.
“Ghost and the Storm’ is exactly that – a ghost of a track. A forgotten spirit from our past. It was too ahead of its time for us to even know what to do with it at the time we wrote it, so it remained in anonymity for several years. The song is about having false beliefs, blind and empty faith, believing your entire life that when you die you’ll go somewhere better but the reality is you just return to nothing, nowhere. To sleep and never remember your dreams is equivalent to how we die,” says Shawn Tucker.
Sean-Patrick Nolan elucidates, “The video pays homage to ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’ by UNKLE, one of our all-time favourite songs and videos. It depicts the uneasy feeling of questioning your own sanity as it slowly slips away from you. We intentionally left it ambiguous as to who this troubled man is and what’s causing him to be so paranoid and erratic. We are our only connection to the outside world, so when the line between reality and fiction is gradually blurred and you start to feel ill at ease in our own mind and flesh, that’s a truly terrifying and isolating thing to experience. Vince Groulx did a great job of capturing that sense of foreboding paranoia while your emotions jump from one extreme to another. The human mind is more vulnerable and susceptible to these fluctuations than we realize.”
Early demos, recorded with Josh Korody, led to TRAITRS’ 2016 debut cassette ‘Rites And Ritual’ with Pleasence Records. After gaining traction in Europe and North America, TRAITRS released their critically acclaimed ‘Butcher’s Coin’ LP in 2018. Bolstered by lead single ‘Thin Flesh’, the duo embarked on several lengthy tours overseas, performing in over a dozen countries with showcases at Wave Gothik Treffen, Castle Party, Extramuralhas, Nocturnal Culture Night, Wavefest, Canadian Music Week and Pop! Montreal.
Their relentless touring schedule and work ethic caught the attention of Thomas Thyssen and Eric Burton of Schubert Music Publishing and, in October 2020, they announced TRAITRS as the first signing to their brand-new record label Freakwave Records.
With the preceding limited 10’’ vinyl ‘The Sick, Tired And Ill’, which practically sold-out before its actual release, TRAITRS were able to triple their Spotify monthly listeners to >33k. In addition, lead single ‘Magdalene‘ spent 5 consecutive weeks at #1 on the German Alternative Charts (DAC).
As of October 29, ‘Ghost and The Storm’ will be available everywhere digitally, including Spotify and Apple Music. On November 19, the full-length ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ LP will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally. It can be ordered at https://orcd.co/horsesintheabattoir
CREDITS
Written and performed by TRAiTRS
Shawn Tucker – Vocals, guitar, bass guitar and lyrics
Sean-Patrick Nolan – Synths, piano, sequencing and programming
Additional percussion by Josh Korody
Recorded at Candle Recording Studio in Toronto
Produced and mixed by Josh Korody and TRAITRS
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album cover design by Shawn Tucker, based on ‘Anna Pavlova In The Fokine/Saint-Saëns The Dying Swan. St. Petersburg – 1905’.
Video scenario and production by TRAITRS
Video directed and edited by Shawn Tucker
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