Trapist: The Golden Years

Trapist’s approach to making music seems to fall more in line with free jazz than anything else. Everything feels improvised but brilliant enough to demonstrate the individual members expertise at their craft and understanding of songwriting and structure. There’s moments of unnerving silence and there’s moments of blistering attack that recall the Dirty Three at their most fierce. All four tracks here have individual moments of exhilaration both in silence and in crescendo but the ones that stand out the most are the longest, in particular the only two that exceed the 10-minute mark, “The Spoke and the Horse” and “Walk These Hills Lightly”. Each effectively showcasing the overall skill set of Trapist. While The Golden Years may not be a masterpiece it comes close enough to warrant heavy investment.