Trauma Pet
Affinity EP
Trauma Pet are an electro-goth two-piece that have been developing over the last few years through a strict regime of recording and gigging. With their first album due for a March release and tours of the UK and Europe planned soon after, Taruma Pet are hatching from their Hampshire-cocoon and preparing for wider exposure.
‘Controlled Hysteria’ bravely takes on the job of opening the record, even though it probably isn’t the best song on offer. In fact, Trauma Pet have almost contrived to put the songs in reverse order of brilliance. That isn’t to say that this isn’t a good song though as it sets the scene rather well with the main focus on the vocal.
Combining the sparky eighties pop of Snap with the operatic compositions of Lunascape, ‘Puppet’ shines like moonlight on water with frequent forays into nightime forests – all created courtesy of pipes, brass, strings and something vaguely resembling those computers in old sci-fi films.
‘Affinity’ adds a flourish of guitars that hark bark to The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ LP. The almost-Cranberries style vocals are mixed low in this track, partially obscured by the instruments as if surrounded by mist. Perhaps due to this ( or perhaps due to a fairly flat melody) the main draw in this song is the play between the guitars and the keyboards.
Imbued with a sense of foreboding that conjures up a tense and chilling horror movie, ‘You Cannot Feel This’ throbs along with scary hand-claps and flooded bass-drum rhythm. The vocals take a bit more control of this song, a shift in power that continues in ‘Breaking’, which really gives the vocals a chance to flex their muscles, roaming across a much wider melody than the other songs. The chorus is probably the most hooky on offer, although it retains the haunting dusty blue feel that’s predominant throughout this EP.
Trauma Pet have sensibly held the song lengths in check for these tracks, ensuring that they remain fresh from start to finish. Each song is composed of myriad layers that build in waves to crash against the cold pebble shores created by floating synth-strings. While it’s fair to say that gothic electronic music is in no way about to flood the mainstream, Trauma Pet are a versatile band that could do very well out of some wide European exposure.
Trauma Pet Articles
Written by Fenton on
