Meet TRAILS and their dreamy latest single, Phasing Out

After copping rotation on community radio stations like SYN, 4ZZZ and 2RRR, playing sold-out shows with Ocean Alley (and a big headline single launch show last week), and generally releasing some pretty great music right now, Brisbane-based five-piece TRAILS are making a lot of great moves right now. After a run of singles last year, TRAILS are back at it again with their first single of 2018 with Phasing Out, and it's just another sign as to why you should be keeping an eye on the group through this year and beyond. It's a dreamy alt-rock journey which combines this classic indie sound with nuances of shoegaze and psych-rock, settling on something that feels familiar and comfortable yet at the same time, slightly unique to everything else out there.

It's a great song and also a bit of a personal one, according to frontman Tyler Shilling. "[Phasing Out is] a song which grapples with the feelings of despair and grief that come from someone you care for slowly succumbing to illness; seeing first hand their slow degeneration," he says on the single. "The narrator goes through stages of grief; first lamenting the worsening condition of their friend, then questioning themselves and what they could have done to change things before ultimately arriving at an acceptance of the situation. It comes from a deep place and I wanted to make sure the music matched the melancholy and yearning of these lyrics." Check out the single below, and get to know the band a little better ahead of more releases later in the year.

Tell us about yourselves?

We’re a bunch of friends from Brisbane who hang out and write music we like to listen to. We’ve all come from differing musical tastes and backgrounds, so we are often looking for that common middle ground that suits our individual styles.

What kinda tunes we talkin’?

Alternative Rock predominantly. Our biggest comparisons are to bands like Radiohead, Everything Everything and Tame Impala, but we draw inspiration from many bands spanning multiple genres.

Production/writing process:

We will often write from ideas brought in by Tyler and Dan, and edit and jam it out in a more democratic setting where we can all add our own elements and make it more definitively our own as a band.
We spend a lot of time revising the sonics of each song in pre-production before recording, so the process from inception to finished track can take some time, but we want to be sure we are all satisfied at the end of the day.

Can you tell us about your new single, Phasing Out?

Phasing Out is a spacey explosion of interwoven guitars, synths and drums, cocooning a darker, heavier theme. It's based on the perspective of an unknown narrator watching a friend slowly succumbing to illness. With the lyrical themes being so delicate, we wanted to be sure to treat the music delicately as well, which is why it’s taken several months to see it to completion. But it’s finally here and we are super psyched to be able to share it with everyone.

Any shows coming up?

We played a launch show for Phasing Out on Friday May 18th at The Flying Cock, but following that, we’ll be back into promo for another single and launch show coming in July.

What’s the rest of the year have in store?

We plan to keep working on more new songs for release later in the year hopefully, and we’ll aim to keep playing more shows and getting our faces out there! Perhaps a billboard or a bus stop advert might be the go?

Where can we hear more of your music?

You can check us out on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and all streaming services.

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