Joyland
Band members leaving between albums is a fact of life—but when your band is a duo, such a departure can be downright crippling. Yet Robert Alfons didn\'t see things that way when Maya Postpeski left Trust after the band\'s debut, *TRST*. Soldiering on, Alfons recorded *Joyland* while touring the world, and it sounds like many of the places he visited were deep underground. An always enthralling, occasionally discomfiting tour through gothic synth-pop textures past and present, the album features aggressive bass blasts, skittering melodies, and sinister synths, recalling such goth all-stars as Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, KMFDM, and early Ministry. Alfons bathes his vocals in an array of effects, singing every part, from the falsetto chirping of \"Are We Arc?\" to the relatively unadorned baritone of \"Capitol.\" Brooding and booming, songs like \"Rescue, Mister\" and \"Four Gut\" evoke pistons churning in dank Siberian factories. Yet *Joyland*\'s title isn\'t completely ironic: \"Capitol\" boasts an ebullient chorus, and \"Lost Souls/Eelings\" weaves a melodic web of warbles through its churning beat.
Canadian coldwaver Trust's second effort Joyland—now a Robert Alfons solo project due to the departure of Maya Postepski—is a couple notches sleeker than its predecessor.
Eleven variations on dance-floor digital aerobics – this is very much ‘body’ music.
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The sophonore offering from Trust is a solo endeavour for lynchpin Robert Alfons, with Maya Postepski having left the Toronto project shortly after their debut. Vocally, Alfons possesses a remarkable range, allowing him to channel a deep and sonorous moan on anthemic cuts like Geryon
Dead of winter, 2012: Toronto-based Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski (also of Canada's Austra), who called themselves Trust, deliver what would become one of the year's best and most self-assured debut albums.
Review: "Joyland" By Trust on Arts And Crafts, 8.3/10, Release Date: March 4, 2014. Review by Michael Unger. Joyland is a sophomore album by Robert Alfons.
<p>Synth-pop has many cold-wave mimics, but Trust's Robert Alfons has the songs to stand out from the crowd, writes <strong>Tim Jonze </strong></p>
The superlative Joyland arrives as the fruit of Robert Alfons’s labors alone, as former cohort Maya Postepski split to focus her considerable production prowess on her day job, fellow Toronto-based synthpop band Austra.