TR/ST
Performance
DAIS
From the depths of despair, the bowels of solitude, the last swig of the last drink by the last patron at the bar, comes Performance, the latest album by Robert Alfons’ project TR/ST. What began as a synth-pop duo 15 years ago in Toronto, breaking out in the 2010s with a pair of intimate records on Arts & Crafts, finds the now LA-based solo electronic wizard at the top of his game and in a deeper state of introspection than ever before. Following 2019’s two-volume epic The Destroyer, Alfons seeks to start his musical endeavor anew—all the while wondering if a slate can ever be truly wiped clean.
Indeed, records don’t get much headier than Performance, despite Alfons crafting the nine-song ponderous platter in collaboration with Angeleno composer/producer/mixer Nightfeelings. From start to finish, Alfons lets his musical abilities do the talking while never making full eye contact, calling to mind Julee Cruise’s saddest moments from the Twin Peaks soundtrack. With Performance, TR/ST crescendos with metabolic urbanity that could only be generated by the most mature of musical talents.
TR/ST has rubbed metaphorical elbows with electronic visionaries like Cold Cave and Crystal Castles in the past, but by diving deeper into his consciousness than ever before, Alfons edges past his peers by laying bare all his vulnerabilities. For some, Performance will be too much; as agreeable as his soft-edged beats may be, they’re always the backdrop to Alfons’ heavily affected falsetto. But there’s no disputing the poetic mastery that the artist now brings to the table—nary a word or note on the record isn’t very deeply considered. “We still say hello / Scared stiff to stone am I / We never called a car, organ dried / Scared stiff to stone, you liar… And you said we'd run / To the soil, now you know, goodbye,” Alfons croons on “Soon”—and that’s just the beginning of the record.
By the time TR/ST reaches “Boys of LA” and “Clowned” mid-Performance, it’s time for a much-needed respite from the weight of his headiness. The album’s biggest standout, the track that shares the same name as the record, is the precursor to the record’s conclusory “Warp.” “Now we see the rotten mind / It’s eye to eye and mysteries / Sail your boat for shore / I sit by the window waiting for it,” he sings at the end of the album. “Now the sea is rough / I want you to want me most of all / I lay on your bed and watch it pass / And you’ve seen it changing in front of your eyes / Seems that ain’t this gay shit doesn’t lie.”
TR/ST is right on the money as the album waves goodbye; Performance captures the essence of an artist who doesn’t seem to have the ability to be disingenuous.
