TR/ST (fka Trust) is one of our favourite artists here at Brighton & Hove News, and is the musical alias of producer, singer, and performer Robert Alfons. Born in Winnipeg, Canada (but based in Los Angeles for the past decade), he has released a string of celebrated albums fusing swooning synth-pop, confessional darkwave, and anthemic emotion: ‘TRST’ (2012), ‘Joyland’ (2014), ‘The Destroyer – Part One’ (2019), and ‘The Destroyer – Part Two’ (2019).
In late 2023, TR/ST joined the Dais Records roster, announcing the union with the release of ‘TR/ST EP‘ earlier this year. His ‘Soon’ single arrived on 15th May and is a dance floor stomper with a huge new wave hook, swelling to life with hymnal electronics and spiked with caustic kiss-off lyrics. Find ‘Soon’ on streaming links HERE. On the same day TR/ST announced a new European tour which then included just one UK date, this being at the Evolutionary Arts Hackney, London (EartH) on Wednesday 23rd October, with tickets available from HERE. However, yesterday (10th September) an extra tour date was added and thankfully this was to be right here in Brighton at the Dust venue in East Street on Tuesday 22nd October. Tickets for this additional concert are on sale now and can be snapped up HERE and HERE.
TR/ST have also announced that their forthcoming album, ‘Performance’ will contain nine new compositions and will be available from two days time (13th September). It’s the fourth full-length studio album by Robert Alfons aka TR/ST (fka Trust) and ‘Performance’ sinks even further into the nasty synth-pop psychodrama that the project has pioneered and, finally, perfected across over a decade of evolution. Recorded in Los Angeles, the songs seethe with dread, lust, reckoning, and abandon, backlit by the light pollution of a thousand dead end city streets. Alfons co-produced the collection with versatile composer and producer Nightfeelings, achieving a thick, smoky balance of eerie synths, fog machine low end, and bruised, crooning voice. The album is available to purchase HERE and the title track of the album, just so happens to be the brand new single as well, check out the video HERE.
We have in the past made the effort to head on up to London in order to witness the TR/ST live performances. Thus far we have covered concerts at Heaven in 2019 (Review HERE) and last year at Fabric (Review HERE).
Tour dates:
30 Sep – MeetFactory, Prague, CZ
2 Oct – Kamienna, Krakow PL
3 Oct – Progresja, Warsaw PL
5 Oct – Conne Island, Leipzig DE
6 Oct – Rote Sonne, Munich DE
7 Oct – Gebaude 9, Cologne DE
10 Oct – TRIX, Antwerp BE
11 Oct – Melkweg, Amsterdam NL
12 Oct – L’Olympia, Paris FR
15 Oct – Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin DE
17 Oct – Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm SE
18 Oct – Parkteatret, Oslo NO
19 Oct – Loppen, Copenhagen DK
22 Oct – Dust, Brighton UK
23 Oct – EartH, London UK