Highly anticipated new album “personal best” out
22nd July via Fat Cat Records
EU / UK tour dates to take place Oct / Nov 2022
Today, Chichester trio TRAAMS have shared a new track titled “Breathe”. The song is taken from their highly anticipated new album “personal best”, which is out 22nd July via long-term label Fat Cat.
“personal best” marks the band’s first full-length album since 2015’s critically-acclaimed ‘Modern Dancing’, and comes hot on the heels of their recent highly acclaimed single ‘Sleeper’, which featured guest vocals from Soffie Viemose of Bella Union’s Danish five-piece Lowly.
The band recently announced their long-awaited return alongside a new single titled ‘The Light At Night’, which features Joe Casey of Protomartyr, and was accompanied by a new video co-directed by Charlotte Gosch & Lee Kiernan of IDLES.
The new track “Breathe” arrives as a direct insight into the band’s musical evolution on the new record. Featuring guest vocals from Softlizard (the new project from Liza Violet of Menace Beach), the track sees propulsive and motorik bass gel with programmed beats, whilst warmly distorted, hook led guitar riffs grind alongside hypnotic vocals. This is all underpinned by subtle yet intricate synth lines and electronic manipulations, adding further nuance to their sound and perfectly exemplifying the new songwriting methods that were explored across “personal best”.
Speaking on the track vocalist and guitarist, Stu Hopkins says, “During one of 2020s seemingly endless lockdowns once it was legal to do so, we began meeting up in Stu’s basement (due to our regular rehearsal space being shut). It was a strange time and we all felt palpably odd.
We already had a couple of tracks from a previous session, but ‘Breathe’ felt new. It took us down a very different path, one that ultimately shaped the tone of the whole record – right down to the artwork.
A soft, meandering lullaby, born out of a trip to the GP – waiting room imagery, mismatched furnishings, gaudy posters, and jarring slogans all coming together in a fleeting moment of calm, before expanding out into a celebration of life’s repetition.”
In addition to the new single, TRAAMS have also announced a short run of in-store shows to coincide with the new albums release. These come ahead of a new run of EU / UK live dates for Oct / Nov 2022. The tour follows the band’s April dates with Protomartyr, with full dates as follows:
JUL
10 – Bruges, BE, Cactus Fesitval22 – Pie & Vinyl, Portsmouth22 – Resident Records, Brighton23 – Rough Trade East, London
OCT
12 – Brighton, Patterns*13 – London, Moth Club*14 – Bristol, Strange Brew*15 – Birmingham, Future Days*27 – Groningen, NL, Vera28 – Deventer, NL, Burgerweeshuis29 – Amsterdam, NL, London Calling
NOV
11 – Manchester, YES (Basement)*12 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club*
* support from Public Body
Tickets are available HERE
FOLLOW TRAAMS
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
