Luxury Deathtrap embark on an expansive sonic trip with ‘Evolve’
Boston alt-rock trio unveil its ambitious new single on Friday, August 12
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Luxury Deathtrap’s sophomore album set for release this fall
Photo Credit: Mass Bass Media
BOSTON, MA [August 12, 2022] – It’s often interesting to see music eventually catch up to a band. A quick scroll through press coverage of Luxury Deathtrap since the Boston trio dropped its 2018 self-titled debut album yields several mentions of a certain throwback sound, something that recalls the grunge intensity and alternative rock drama of the halcyon ‘90s. But in the four years since, Luxury Deathtrap’s emotive and impassioned guitar-rock sound is, rather suddenly, fully rooted in the now; dramatic tension builds, with piercing heights matched by shadowy depths, and singles boasting extended run times that spit in the eye of our modern-day attention economy. Luxury Deathtrap’s music takes hold, and only lets go on its own terms.
Untethered by trends and usually a step or two ahead of them, Luxury Deathtrap continue their expansive sonic trip with a new single titled “Evolve,” set for streaming release on Friday, August 12. It follows May’s collaborative cover of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World,” and a pair of 2021 releases: The incendiary “Technogrip” single, and a pandemic-inspired EP rebooting prior material titled LOCKEDOWN.
“Evolve” may in fact be Luxury Deathtrap’s most ambitious song to date, clocking in at more than six minutes long, with no regard for the current practice of releasing short songs to pad streaming numbers. With an aural DNA of alternative, shoegaze, and progressive rock, “Evolve” exudes a journey-like demeanor that echoes its lyrical focus, where songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Nicholas McGowan pulls back the curtain on his own personal growth as a person. For Luxury Deathtrap, the evolution of its members is as front-and-center as its evolution as a collective creative unit.
“‘Evolve’ is a song that centers around growth and tells a story of a person who has found themselves in a proverbial hell and has to grow to get out,” McGowan says. “I often write songs that reflect my experience and project it on a character but it always comes back and slaps me in the face. I take an experience and create a story in second person so the audience – ‘you’ – has something to grasp on to, but it’s really about my own personal struggles with falling into a cycle that has negative consequences. My way of reminding myself of where I have been is to sing these songs.”
With longtime bandmate and bassist Amanda Stahle now joined by recent drummer recruit Rich Otero, “Evolve” has quickly become a favorite of the Luxury Deathtrap live show, a pure sensory assault with a gradually building foundation that belies the group’s trio status.
“We’ve played ‘Evolve’ out a few times and people seem to remark about the line, ‘even feathers carry weight’ as something that stood out,” admits McGowan. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You will find land eventually if you evolve.”
Perhaps augmenting its spectral allure, “Evolve” was mixed in Salem, Massachusetts, with Zach Weeks behind the board at GodCity Studio. It was mastered in Sweden by Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg, and features a pair of Paper Tigers on board, with drums provided by Ben “Cutty” Cuthbert and Bjarki Guðmundsson serving as in-house recording engineer at the bands’ shared practice space at the Sound Museum in Brighton.
“Our auspicious collaboration with Paper Tigers not only got us a place to rehearse and drink beer, but also some killer tracks,” McGowan adds. “The whole time we were wondering if a wrecking ball would be crashing our party.”
For now, the only wrecking ball comes in the form of “Evolve,” which acts as the first in a string of singles before Luxury Deathtrap unleashes its sophomore album in the fall. The release coincides with a stream of video content the band is set to roll out across social media, with visual themes aligning with the sentiment McGowan alluded to earlier. “The video content we produced is not linear or directly representational of the song but rather expressive of the parallel themes which include reaching, struggle, being trapped and isolation,” he says.
With the rest of the music world catching up to Luxury Deathtrap in both musical style and vision, that feeling of isolation should fade with every riff. But by the time the band recognizes the company around it, the trio will likely be already on to something else, something as yet undefined.
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to Luxury Deathtrap at luxurydeathtrap@gmail.com or Michael Marotta at michael@publisist.co.
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‘Evolve’ single artwork:
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Luxury Deathtrap is:
Nicholas McGowan - Vocals, synth, and guitar
Amanda Stahle - Bass guitar
Rich Otero - Drums
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‘Evolve’ production credits:
Produced by Luxury Deathtrap, Paper Tigers, and GodCity
Mastered by Magnus Lindberg in Sweden
Mixed by Zach Weeks at GodCity in Salem, MA
Engineered by Bjarki Guðmundsson at Sound Museum in Brighton, MA
Drums by Ben ‘Cutty’ Cuthbert
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‘Evolve’ lyric sheet:
Hope
Find some way to heaven
Pray
Cause the serpents waiting
Pull me closer
I often don’t want to wait
Even feathers carry weight
To the earth they return
Hope
Take you out from under
This place
So far from heaven
No light
Penetrates down here
As you seek shelter from shame
Pull me closer
I often don’t want to wait
Even feathers carry weight
To the earth they return
I want you to temper the flames that hold you down
I want you to temper the old ways down
Cause I can’t watch you disappear
I can’t see you disappear
Take me
This time won’t you please
Show me
Something
That’s right
Can you please
Get me out of this place
Yeah you!
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Media praise for Luxury Deathtrap:
“‘Moment to Breathe’ is a five-plus-minute, guitar-driven, sonic roller coaster ride featuring male and female vocal harmonies alongside dynamic and melodic, post-rock guitar work. The lyrical content centers around the reality of the world currently being different than we would have ever thought with advancements in technology and an overabundance of news media.” _New Noise Magazine
“A majority of the EP, including songs like, ‘Sinking Ship,’ and ‘Retreater,’ are full of heavy guitar riffs and Nirvana-esque vibes that catapult you into what I'm sure would have been present in a dark, beer-stained underground venue in ‘94.” _Boston Hassle
“‘Technogrip’ wonderfully captures the kinetic intersection of grunge, post-hardcore, and alternative metal.” _Vanyaland
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Luxury Deathtrap press photo:
Photo Credit: Mass Bass Media
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Press Contact: michael@publisist.co or luxurydeathtrap@gmail.com
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