Trouper – All Things Are Shadow

By Ryan G

Trouper have been on my radar since a little over a year ago when I heard they would be playing Audiofeed Festival. Actually, it was a little bit before that – sometime between meeting Aaron Nicolas and doing the pre-Audiofeed interview last year. But in this band’s short lifetime, much has changed already. All Things Are Shadow is the culmination of these changes. In fact, album opener “I Still Want You, I Still Need You” is somewhat of an anthem for how the band’s heart is oriented, declaring perseverance in their faith.

Last week I had a conversation with my friend Phil Reed of The Wind and the Sea about this band, and it came up in conversation that Trouper has a bit of that “Christian” sound. All Things Are Shadow is a far cry from being a worship record, but I can definitely hear a bit of Hillsong in the songs – particularly in the first two tracks and the first single “Hope of Something Different.” When you hear lyrics proclaiming that “All I know, is that you can always hope” being repeated in the bridge (with audience participation at shows) you get a bit of a churchy vibe for sure – neither a positive or a negative, it just is. To be fair, the message of hope has been secularized in recent years, especially in pairing with a message of progressivism.

My favorite song on the record is “Phorcys” – a “song about the devil,” as Aaron introduces it at shows. Diving into the title of this song alone is a bit of a linguistic and mythological exercise, as I’ve never heard this word as a pseudonym for Satan before. A quick bit of research (thank you Wikipedia) reveals Phorcys to be a sea god from Greek mythology. The son of Pontus and Gaia (another sea god and mother earth). I think of Bible passages that reference the sea as something foreboding – the shipwreck that the Apostle Paul got involved in, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin” (Luke 17:2), and “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19). Could the devil have ties to the sea when the waters are metaphorically the home of spiritual death and how far sins are removed from those of faith? An interesting thought when we think of the Devil as having the air as his dominion. Anyway…this song is a first person exploration of this entity’s point of view, and is backed by a gnarly bass line and synth intro.

I could go into that amount of detail for the other songs, but I won’t. I can sense the relief from readers already! But seriously, there is a lot to dig into. What each song has in common though, is an uncanny ability to create a sense of wide open space and intimacy. A musical tesseract, if you will – filling up a big space, but bending dimensions to get to your heart.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjEg_v0flcs[/youtube]

I never like to point out things I would change on a record (I wouldn’t be writing about this album if I didn’t dig it) but a few things are worth pointing out. As aforementioned, the music does lean a bit toward the CCM sound at times, though more in the vein of Future of Forestry than soccer-mom-worship-pop. I think that this aspect of the music will standout mainly to those who were raised around this culture, so in regard to the general public’s reception this may be a moot point. Also, the mix at times reaches points that I would tweak. The vocals are on point, as are the thundering drums of Max Dotson, but at times I wish the bass had a bit more richness to its sound. It is easy to discern the melodies in those bass lines but I wish it had a bit more of a live feel. That said, Nick Dotson is a nasty bass player!

If you like alternative music with a bit of an emotive bent slightly inspired by U2, this record is for you. Again, I have to name drop Future of Forestry. Trouper shares with this band an ability to make musically creative, lyrically honest music with a spiritual bent.

I recommend you join Trouper’s fan club of sorts, called the Soma, which is linked on their bandcamp.

Score: 4/5

Trouper: Facebookbandcamp

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