‘Shapeshifter’, the new long-player from cosmic LA rockers Triptides, unfolds like a golden sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. Warm rays of Wurlitzer and Farfisa organ radiate through a swirling haze of vocal harmony as kaleidoscopic melodies trace shimmering trails through the subconscious. A floodtide of laid-back grooves unfold and uplift, unfurling gracefully as they fill one’s inner space. And they say you can’t escape gravity in your living room…
‘Connection’ has been released today (16th May) as a single ahead of the album in mid-June. “This song came to me after taking a psilocybin microdose and locking myself in the recording studio”, explains group leader Glenn Brigman. “I was possessed by visions of a mid-century transistor organ being driven by a pulsing, motorik beat. The electricity of the music gave me the impression of a lightning storm full of expansive experiences and souls being fused together as one.”
‘Connection’ also heads up an EP available from today that includes three other recent singles and two non-album tracks.
Over the last fourteen years and dozens of albums and singles, Triptides have traversed a hypercolour musical landscape of psychedelic rock, Laurel Canyon folk and spaced-out jazz pop. Each track can be traced back to the unique ability of Brigman to craft and explore a seemingly infinite number of dimensional melodies and harmonies.
With every line of his airy vocals that dance across the tape and into the speakers, stoners, trippers and lovers alike are transported to a sweet and familiar place, lifted by chiming guitars, hypnotic drums, glittering pianos and hallucinogenic fuzz.
Between ‘Starlight’ (2023 album) and ‘Shapeshifter’ the music merrymakers who support Brigman’s vison ebbed and flowed, although the inspiration continued to percolate within his studio nestled in the San Bernadino Mountains. “It’s back in the woods, and it’s nice putting noise out into the void”, says Brigman. Starting with keys and a click, he gave himself over to inspiration to create ‘Shapeshifter’. “I would sit down and play the drums, then add piano and guitars, vocals and tambourines and all that jazz… and suddenly it’s been eight hours.”
Performed, produced and mixed primarily by Brigman, ‘Shapeshifter’ took form over a year of musical exploration. As the songs emerged, he noticed that the keyboards kept coming to the surface in the form of a cerebral, downtempo psychedelia. The soft glow of those melodic embers caught; with gentle breaths Brigman helped them grow into a proper long-form conflagration.
As with all Triptides records, ‘Shapeshifter’ is intended as both a tool of self-reflection and a salve for the collective unconscious. A round-trip ticket to journey into thoughts and ideas, reflected back through the mirror of art and music. “I don’t have much else to offer outside of my art, you know”, he laughs. “I go to sleep better knowing that I’ve created something that someone somewhere might put on and that’ll make their day go from bad to good. Maybe this record will create more emotional food for people. I want my art to nourish.”
Each Triptides recording is a personal reflection, an unexpected evolution and honest testament to The Song. The next album will be no different.
Catch Triptides live and you’ll see a band that shifts shapes and moods like lightning in a bottle, fluidly and fluently turning up and turning out…and always taking the audience on a trip. Either way, you’ll want to find them out there.
SHAPESHIFTER
TRACKLISTING
1 Silent Life
2 More Than A Friend
3 Your Darkness
4 Shapeshifter
5 Connection
6 Restless
7 How Could It Be Too Late
8 5 AM
9 Altered Visions
10 Fly Into The Sun
11 Far From Here
CONNECTION
new single
out 16.05.25
(Label 51 Recordings)
stream
included on
SHAPESHIFTER
new album
out 13.06.25 (digital)
out 25.07.25 (LP | CD)
