Photo by Renée Parkhurst. Art Direction Jamie Parkhurst
There’s a vulnerable beauty in stepping onto the stage and letting your heart lay bare, and with the title track “Performance,” TR/ST captures that very essence. Robert Alfons opens himself up to the audience, exposing a delicate balance of earnestness and heartbreak that resonates deeply. This single, a tantalizing glimpse of his upcoming album Performance set for release on September 13 via Dais Records, unfolds like a vivid dream—where raw emotion meets a shimmering synth backdrop. Alfons pulls us into his world, where each beat and breath is charged with profound sincerity, inviting listeners to linger in the bittersweet space between melancholy and euphoria.
In the accompanying video, Directed by Bryan M. Ferguson, Alfons enchants a rough-and-tumble roadhouse crowd with his celestial croon, leaving a trail of awe in his wake. He stumbles into a hostile hole, nerves frayed, facing the steely stares of the no-nonsense locals. Unease clings to him like smoke. But as karaoke kicks off, the icy hostility melts. The room’s mood shifts as the music spins, and the once stern faces soften, drawn into the evening’s entertainment.
With its dimly lit setting, the video is slightly reminiscent of Depeche Mode’s “It’s No Good.” However, here, Alfons croons and swoons with swagger more so like Chris Isaak in “Wicked Game,” his otherworldly vocal delivery adding a haunting layer to the scene. As Alfons navigates the smoky room, his voice cuts through the tension, weaving a spell that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, turning a simple performance into an intimate revelation.
Watch the video for “Performance” below:
TR/ST’s vocal delivery remains a piercing arrow shot through a moody mist, evoking the melancholic grandeur of ’80s New Wave but with a sharpened modern sheen. Alfons, who emerged onto the scene in 2010 with a distinctive mix of shadowy electronic pop and a flair for the dramatic, has always drawn deep from a well of influences—Bryan Ferry’s brooding charm, ABC’s glossy finesse, the reflective synths of China Crisis, Style Council’s smooth swagger, and the bright hooks of Scritti Politti. Yet, in Performance, he spins these inspirations into a complex web that captures his evolution—a sophisticated synth-pop saga that is anything but derivative.
Recorded amidst the sprawling, unforgiving landscape of Los Angeles—a city that pulses with both allure and unease—Performance simmers with a sense of dread, lust, and abandonment. Co-produced with Night Feelings, the album’s production is dense and hazy, awash with eerie synths, profound bass, and Alfons’ unmistakably bruised, crooning vocals. The album’s title, born from a friend’s quip about Alfons’ innately performative nature, speaks to the tightrope between beauty and bitterness that he so expertly treads.
In Performance, each track is a crucible of emotional intensity, balancing anthemic pop instincts with a stark, somber undercurrent. Here, the lushness of his melodies is met with an underbelly of turmoil—songs etched with guilt, haunted by ghosts, and stained with the residue of unresolved tensions. Alfons navigates this storm with both grace and grit, a provocateur at once liberated and burdened by the very act of performance.
Performance is a dreamy experience—immersive and intoxicating, constantly balancing between the seductive and the unsettling. Alfons wields his voice like a blade, cutting clean through the haze of his narratives with an unfiltered emotional intensity. In this nocturnal theater, he becomes both playwright and performer, with the masks of comedy and tragedy adorning his face with each song, revealing the dynamic interplay of the human spirit.
Listen to “Performance” below and pre-order the album here.
The journey continues this month as TR/ST embarks on an international tour that spans Europe, the UK, and North America, including stops at iconic venues like Los Angeles’ Novo, Chicago’s Metro, and Brooklyn Steel in New York. Find the full list of tour dates below and prepare to be enveloped in TR/ST’s atmospheric embrace.
TR/ST Live Dates:
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