Trophy Eyes have shared their second new track for 2021, a shimmery pop belter titled ‘Bittersweet’.
It marks another drastic shift away from the Novocastrian outfit’s hardcore roots; its soundscape is carried by a contrast-heavy bed of digitised guitars and ethereal synths, with breakbeat-styled drums and tambourines sizzling overhead. John Floreani’s lead vocal is bright and crisp, too, washing over the track with a loose, wistful energy.
Have a listen to ‘Bittersweet’ below:
In a press release, Floreani noted the track’s nostalgic feel as a product of its sentiment, touching on a formative experience the frontman had with adolescent heartbreak.
“There are no rules in love,” he said. “I know this now but for my teenage self, that was too much to comprehend. Bittersweet is a song about feeling someone slowly slip away, and the cathartic, long winded conversations said in total silence – sometimes with just a single expression.
“It was my first experience of inadequacy and total loss of control. I was not enough and I drove the person that I loved into someone’s more capable arms. I’m not sure that I was even in love, but I was certainly desperate to hold on to the one thing still linking me to my childhood.
“My first taste of adult life was a bitter introduction to how familiar I would come to be with loneliness.”
‘Bittersweet’ comes as the third single shared from Trophy Eyes’ upcoming fourth album, following ‘Figure Eight’ from last January and ‘27 Club’ from back in October. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to their 2018 album, ‘The American Dream’, is due for release sometime next year.
In the meantime, fans will be able to catch Trophy Eyes live at the inaugural Knight & Day festival this month, where they’ll perform alongside the likes of Parkway Drive, Polaris, Alex Lahey, Void Of Vision and The Chats.
They also have their own run of shows just over the horizon, with sold-out dates locked in all along the east coast. Initially set to kick off back in July, the run was paused due to a surge in local COVID-19 cases. The shows will now take place in March and April.