Tristan - RSD 2024

This product is a Record Store Day exclusive title and is not available to pre-order.

To buy in-store: 8am, 20/04/2024 (Record Store Day).
To buy online: 8pm, 22/04/2024. (Subject to availability).
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Birdmask (Manuel Gagneux, renowned for his work with influential metal band Zeal & Ardor) The five songs of Tristan are steeped in sadness and beauty, “We’ll never get better / It’s a long and gruesome odyssey,” sings Manuel on ‘Recovery’ over muted electronics. The soulful and stark ‘Dearly Beloved’ sounds like a message from the depths of depression – “Spend a week in the bathtub / You know that you messed up.” Whilst latest single ‘Leave the Rain Outside’ offers a swinging, whirling gothic melody as a vessel for Gagneux’s voice to swoop and soar, before the crescendo of sound on ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’. “In metal, sadness always has to be this huge thing.” Says Manuel, “It's never just a certain aspect of it – it's the world is ending and your mom just stabbed you. It's never heartache or ennui or anything like that. It’s misery rather than melancholy.” And there lies the most important distinction between his two projects; Manuel has always felt a slight disconnect with Zeal & Ardor, as it finds him acting as a different person to explore societal topics. Birdmask on the other hand offers a true expression of himself, in what he describes as his “gleeful stupidity and childish exploration.