"Scorched Earth" is the first single from Curved Light's debut LP, "Spirit Echo" - out everywhere 10/01/2021.

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The culmination of a five year effort, "Spirit Echo" is Tran's most defined statement to date, at once both intense and arresting, serene and resplendent, refined yet exploratory.

Two years of touring and over half a dozen releases behind him, things were growing stagnant. “I wasn’t quite sure what direction to go in,” reflects Tran, “but I needed something new. And after playing hundreds of shows, that something had to be loud, direct, and heavy - something that just couldn’t be ignored.” Those sentiments show among tracks “Scorched Earth” and “GMega” with their off-kilter rhythms, breakneck rises, and 16th-note barrages of General MIDI clocking in at 150 BPM. Modular synthesized percussion take center stage, emphasizing Tran’s departure from his previous work.

But these serpentine compositions also exude a deep sense of foreboding, which, given the circumstances of “Spirit Echo", makes perfect sense. “This feeling of being lost really spiraled out of control, and before I knew it, I was watching everything around me die. First my relationships, then my mother, and then the world, through political strife and an unprecedented pandemic. I was losing everything. Nothing about this time, or making this record, came easy.”

“Spirit Echo” doesn’t necessarily come off as difficult as say, a work of Stockhausen or Andriessen. Rather, it poses its challenges through its relentlessness. From the unsettling whispers in “Unseen” and the horror film strings in “Unheard” to the dissonance and epic supersaws of “Revenant,” there’s hardly a moment’s respite. Even the somber piano dirge of “Ghost Traces” gives way to downsampled AI chaos before coming to terms with an end.

“I couldn’t find peace in the same ways music did for me before. I’m still not quite sure I’ve found that inner quiet, but at least I’ve conquered some of my demons.” That victory cements itself in “Chimera,” a potent, half-time slow burn that finally pays off in an unironic-head-banging-not-guitar-solo that Billy Corgan would approve.

Undoubtedly, “Spirit Echo” is a large gamble for Curved Light. It shows a growing artist taking risks to pursue new ground whilst remaining true to their vision. It finds them tunneling through the dark, wondering if there’s light on the other side. It finds them questioning everything, but ultimately, succeeding at finding their truth.