Tryst Arcane, Emanuel Portelli
– Sun of Other Days
Released: 11 August 2023
The songs on the album offer a sublime blend of haunting melodies and ethereal beauty. Alexia’s entrancing vocals draw you in and linger long after the tracks are over. Each composition effortlessly flows into the next, enveloping you in its melodic embrace.
If you are looking for something darkly beautiful, “Sun of Other Days” is for you. Prepare to be enthralled by its magical aura and mesmerized by its delicate arrangements.
This spellbinding musical experience will leave you both satisfied and wanting more—a truly rare treat!
SPELLBINDING
Sun of Other Days brings together the Maltese minimal dark duo Tryst Arcane and their compatriot Emanuel Portelli, the acclaimed guitarist who is a part of acts such as Victims of Creation, Hemplifier, Thy Legion, and Animamortua. Set for 11 August digitally, the collab album will be available on vinyl later this year.
The Collaboration
This project came to life when Emanuel, isolated and recovering from Covid-19, reached out to Julian and Alexia — the duo behind Tryst Arcane — with guitar sketches he had recorded in early 2020 during his quarantine, instantly sparking their inspiration and prompting an exciting collaboration.
Emanuel’s tapping technique on electric guitar produced a warm, organic sound with a Mediterranean-vibe overtone, which had intrinsically enthused them to develop this mood into a theme album revolving around a typical Maltese summer from their childhood.
The Concept
During this project, they’ve indulged in complete sonic experimentation, where the intention was to blend Emanuel’s clean guitars with classical piano passages and modified analog synth soundscapes. This release is characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures and arrangements that typically produce a hypnotic sonic experience, alluding the listener into a unique musical dimension. The synths’ “otherworldly sounds” recall imaginative sound waves found in the cosmos, which elicit a true feel of intense reminiscing and space-travel parallelisms.
With a Maltese/Mediterranean summer setting as its core theme, this album intends to speak to the inner child of many Maltese millennials, whose summer holidays meant days by the sea and rocky or sandy shores, the sun and the heat at night, the sea and the humid air, the shore’s sounds and scents, the traditional food and the ice-cream van, the family and friends, the adventures and imagination, the innocence and freedom.
For a multi-dimensional experience, this album’s aesthetics and promo material revolve around Malta’s coastal landscapes, possibly with authentic footage or photography taken by the sea during the ‘70s, ‘80s & ‘90s to be used in various ways in order to achieve a nostalgic visual feel in the most natural way possible.
The Lyrics
Sun of Other Days offers conceptual and heterodox music, flanked by lyrics stemming from a deep nostalgic place. The lyrics (along with the composition and music arrangements) revolve around a supernatural journey as the protagonist is involved in a space-time displacement experience happening while reminiscing about her youth on a summer day by the sea.
The lyrics of the first four songs are in English; however, Tryst Arcane wanted to honor their native tongue with the ending track, “LURA,” which, contrary to the other four songs, is composed of a traditional song structure. Music has the unique ability to build connections and speak a language that knows no boundaries, and with this in mind, Tryst Arcane gives the overseas audience a chance to listen to a language that exclusively belongs to the small Maltese archipelago.
Sun of Other Days vereint das maltesische Minimal-Dark-Duo Tryst Arcane und ihren Landsmann Emanuel Portelli, den gefeierten Gitarristen, der Teil von Acts wie Victims of Creation, Hemplifier, Thy Legion und Animamortua ist. Das Kollaborationsalbum, das für den 11. August digital eingestellt ist, wird später in diesem Jahr auf Vinyl erhältlich sein.
Die Zusammenarbeit
Dieses Projekt wurde zum Leben erweckt, als Emanuel, isoliert und sich von Covid-19 erholte, Julian und Alexia – das Duo hinter Tryst Arcane – mit Gitarrenskizzen kontaktierte, die er Anfang 2020 während seiner Quarantäne aufgenommen hatte, um sofort ihre Inspiration zu wecken und eine aufregende Zusammenarbeit anzuregen.
Emanuels Klopftechnik auf der E-Gitarre erzeugte einen warmen, organischen Klang mit einem mediterranen Überton, der sie von Natur aus begeistert hatte, diese Stimmung zu einem Themenalbum zu entwickeln, das sich um einen typischen maltesischen Sommer aus ihrer Kindheit drehte.
Das Konzept
Während dieses Projekts haben sie sich kompletten Klangexperimenten hingegeben, bei denen es die Absicht war, Emanuels saubere Gitarren mit klassischen Klavierpassagen und modifizierten analogen Synthesizer-Klanglandschaften zu mischen. Diese Veröffentlichung zeichnet sich durch lockere und lange Songstrukturen aus, die sich auf instrumentale Texturen und Arrangements konzentrieren, die typischerweise ein hypnotisches Klangerlebnis erzeugen und den Zuhörer auf eine einzigartige musikalische Dimension anspielen. Die “irdseitigen Klänge” der Synthesen erinnern an fantasievolle Schallwellen, die im Kosmos zu finden sind und ein wahres Gefühl intensiver Erinnerungen und Weltraumreise-Parallelismen hervorrufen.
Mit einer maltesischen/mediterranen Sommerkulisse als Kernthema beabsichtigt dieses Album, mit dem inneren Kind vieler maltesischer Millennials zu sprechen, deren Sommerferien Tage am Meer und an felsigen oder sandigen Ufern, der Sonne und der Hitze in der Nacht, dem Meer und der feuchten Luft, den Klängen und Düften der Küste, dem traditionellen Essen und dem
Für ein mehrdimensionales Erlebnis dreht sich die Ästhetik und das Promo-Material dieses Albums um Maltas Küstenlandschaften, möglicherweise mit authentischen Aufnahmen oder Fotografien, die in den 70er, 80er und 90er Jahren am Meer aufgenommen wurden, um auf verschiedene Weise verwendet zu werden, um ein nostalgisches visuelles Gefühl auf die natürlichste Weise zu erzielen.
Die Texte
Sun of Other Days bietet konzeptionelle und heterodoxe Musik, flankiert von Texten, die von einem tiefen nostalgischen Ort stammen. Die Texte (zusammen mit der Komposition und den Musikarrangements) drehen sich um eine übernatürliche Reise, während die Protagonistin an einem Raum-Zeit-Verschiebungserlebnis beteiligt ist, während sie sich an ihre Jugend an einem Sommertag am Meer erinnert.
Die Texte der ersten vier Lieder sind auf Englisch; Tryst Arcane wollte jedoch ihre Muttersprache mit dem Endtrack “LURA” ehren, der im Gegensatz zu den anderen vier Liedern aus einer traditionellen Liedstruktur besteht. Musik hat die einzigartige Fähigkeit, Verbindungen aufzubauen und eine Sprache zu sprechen, die keine Grenzen kennt, und in diesem Sinne gibt Tryst Arcane dem ausländischen Publikum die Möglichkeit, eine Sprache zu hören, die ausschließlich zum kleinen maltesischen Archipel gehört.
Composed and Arranged by Julian Grech, based on Emanuel Portelli’s guitar melodies.
Written by Julian Grech, Alexia Baldacchino, and Emanuel Portelli.
Keys: Julian Grech
Guitar: Emanuel Portelli
Vocals: Alexia Baldacchino (MakabrAl)
Lyrics: Alexia Baldacchino (MakabrAl), except “LURA”: Alexia Baldacchino (MakabrAl) & Luciano Schembri
Album Cover: Charlo Pisani
Band Photography: Alexia Baldacchino (MakabrAl)
Album Visual Design Concept: Alexia Baldacchino (MakabrAl)
Production, Recording, Mixing & Mastering: Julian Grech, Mellieha – Malta. 2021 – 2022
Tryst Arcane:
Tryst Arcane is a duo from Malta, formed by Alexia (vocals – Memento Nostri) and Julian (keys -Nomad Son). Taking Alexia’s ethereal vocals and layering them over haunting cinematic soundscapes, organ sounds or brooding piano riffs, the duo strikes a deviant balance between traditional song standards and music that you’d find accompanying a dramatic moment on screen.
“Minimal Dark” is a term that the duo coined for this genre of music that is particularly pronounced in their debut album, AUTUMN. Being it shorn of percussive instruments but rather composed of only two elements, that of keys and vox, this album is imbued with a solemn dreaminess and serenity. AUTUMN was nominated for Best Alternative Album 2019 and Alexia for Best Song Writer 2019 at the Malta Music Awards 2019.
Emanuel Portelli:
Emanuel Portelli started studying guitar at the Euro Institute of Music in Malta at 17 years of age, where he studied under Marc Galea and earned RGT guitar practice certifications. Later on, he continued studying music theory under the supervision of Jonathan Ellul and earned the LCM certification. Currently, Emanuel has five active bands, is a session guitarist, and teaches guitar on a part-time basis.
With his band Hemplifier, Emanuel started organizing an underground Stoner Festival in 2021 called Reeferfest.
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