Trust/Light Asylum

Biltmore Cabaret

July 20, 2012

“Is it just me or is everyone partying like it’s the weekend?”

That was said to me by a friend of mine as we arrived at the Biltmore for the return of Trust for their second go round of Vancouver since they released their acclaimed debut album TRST. It didn’t seem like a sold out show but the enthusiastic crowd were as varied as they were energetic. The goth kids, mixed with older electro fans, made for an interesting dynamic that kind of made me feel at home being part of the mixed nut clan. It seemed though as if the room was divided pretty evenly between those that were there more to see Light Asylum and those there to see Trust. It may very well be that the next time these two play together it’ll be Light Asylum that takes the headliner as their set really seemed to be the most charismatic of the night. That’s not to say that I enjoyed their music better, their beats seemed kind of pedestrian and Shannon Funchess’ wailing vocals didn’t really hit the mark for me, but I felt that they were making solid choices with the presentation of their songs from their self-titled debut full length that was released in May.

When Trust finally made it to the stage I was originally struck by a few things. The first was that Maya Postepski was not accompanying Robert Alfons. I would find out later that she has left the project, but being someone that had followed the band closely for the past year I found it kind of shocking. That’s when I started to realize the songs that I listened to repeatedly from the album were derived from a very different place than
that in the back of daydreaming head. Trust 80’s inspired goth electro inspires darkness, and with that I almost thought perhaps the band should have been in shadowed more.There was almost no reason for us to watch a drummer keep standard time on a drum kit in the background, while someone on the keyboards programmed the next backing track, while Robert bounced around in between vocal takes. I suppose I would have preferred something more closely associated with my interpretation of the music which is inherently visual. The songs are made for the daydreamer that likes to dance around in their room with the lights off, so it came off as a little flat when during the opener of Shoom, which is a epic drone number, Robert started his rave bouncing that didn’t seem
to stop till the end of the show. Is it too much to ask to have a front man that has a little bit of pizzaz? I can tell Robert has good taste, and with time he’ll probably figure out the best way to present his music on stage, because the music is good. That being said the crowd danced their feet off, as did I standing in the corner with a couple of older chaps who so fondly remember these 80’s beats, and were glad someone has taken up
the charge for a new generation. I’ll just have to go home watch some space videos and rekindle my love for Trust after a show that failed to meet my unrealistic expectations of the dreams of the universe I had with the music in my mind.

– Michael Unger