小简介
Tristeza的作品挑战的是“后摇滚”这一奇怪风格的边界,如果他们被认定为一支后摇滚乐队,那么大多数独立流行乐队只需要去掉人声再增加循环段落即可进入这一领域。事实上这支加州组合更多被描述为一支dream pop化的器乐组合。而我们之前的类比并没有降低乐队作品成色的用意,这一点不要误会。能够把简单心绪通过干净的配器成功表现出来的器乐团并不是太多。或者可以这样说,Tristeza所做的只是恰好应和了大多数人对美妙旋律的期待。没错,就是这样,从这一点说,他们的成功也可谓之“后”了。不过我个人只愿意把该队作品作为背景使用,你很难从一张专辑中发现某一首足以抓住你的所谓“金曲”也是Tristeza的硬伤,这证明了他们还没有能力超越于一众器乐“同僚”之上。
Known as much for their consistent touring as their prolific output, San Diego's instrumental rock quintet Tristeza formed in 1997. Guitarists Jimmy LaValle and Christopher Sprague, keyboardist Stephen Swesey, bassist Luis Hermosillo, and drummer Jimmy Lehner came together after playing in bands like the Locust, Crimson Curse, Swing Kids, and Gogogo Airheart, among others, and recorded their debut 7", Foreshadow/Smoke Through Glass, soon after. In promotion of the single, Tristeza toured three times, making the 7" a best-seller and proving that they could pull off their intricate, involved instrumental sound on-stage as well as in the studio.
Tristeza's first full-length, 1999's Spine and Sensory, added subtle jazz elements to their style; just before hitting the road again, they released their volume of the Insound Tour Support series, a series of CD EPs intended to help promote touring indie bands. Another tour and another single -- the Macrame 7" -- confirmed the band's swift musical development and electronic leanings. Tristeza stopped touring just long enough to record Dream Signals in Full Circles in Chicago with the Pulsars' Dave Trumfio; the album was released in the fall of 2000 by Tigerstyle Records.
The group returned in 2002 with Mixed Signals, a collection of Dream Signals remixes. But Swesey departed the same year, and LaValle the next, so Tristeza went on hiatus while they reassembled their lineup. By 2004 Sean Ogilve and Alison Ables had joined on keyboards and guitar, respectively, and Tristeza recorded a double album called A Colores that was issued in November 2005 on Better Looking Records.