TR/ST | Destroyer-1 | Album Review

Parlophone
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

An extension of his sexually liberated dance discography, Robert Alfons returns with the third TR/ST installment, Destroyer – 1. Being the first half of his vision, insight into his industrial dream-pop body of work is given. After a five-year intermission between his previous album Joyland, Alfons’ contemplation over his break influences every song’s pulse.

“Colossal” opens the album with an ominous tone new to TR/ST. As always, the hands of Maya Postepski’s co-writing shapes the baselines. The scene is still set with Alfons’ signature ethereal electronic amalgamations in “Gone.” The TR/ST brand stays true with Postepski and Alfons taking palpable heartbreak and spinning it toward a celebration of self-reflection.

However, his meditations take a darker turn just as the energy amps up. Where “Unbleached” opens up the conversation about the relationship between desire and shame, “Bicep” forces the topic into a masochistic shouting match with himself.

His concentrated emotion tapers gracefully into a slower yet still industrial close. This gradation notably eludes a sweeter side to his sexuality in both “Control Me” and “Wake With.”

“To be given a 16-song album would be very hard to just take it all in, so the idea of splitting it up made more sense,” Alfons mentioned in an interview with Billboard.

With eight pieces perfectly illustrating Alfons’ forays into darker themes, the rest of the story is yet to be revealed until this November. With so much craft and attention to detail already put into Destroyer – 1 in five years, it’s already been proven that good things come to those who wait.