Six months after their last feature for IDIOTEQ, Boston’s THE TRUE FAITH have released the first single from their forthcoming LP, Go To Ground, which sees release via à La Carte Records (Lesser Care, Don’t Get Lemon) on January 10, 2023. “Minimal Change” (and the “Minimal Change” KISS OF THE WHIP remix) hit streaming sites yesterday.
The True Faith‘s Travis Benson says,” “‘Minimal Change’ is the first single from our sophomore album, titled Go to Ground. We tapped Ryan Santos Phillips (Spirits of Leo – Lux Perpetua NYC studios in Brooklyn, New York) to produce and engineer a new album after we played a show together in Brooklyn. I was captivated by his abilities with respect to his work with Spirits of Leo and felt that he had both the vision and know-how to help us create an album that serves as a testament to our development as a group. For us, They Can Always Hurt You More documents the band at a point where we are eager and still trying to find our footing in the subcultural microcosm. Having some time to sit on the first album and reflecting on what resonated the most with us, we began writing another album with a greater sense of purpose for our sound.”
“We chose this song as the first single because we felt it serves as the best bridge between our first album and our new songs,” Benson adds. “I think it showcases our growth as musicians and songwriters and takes things beyond the familiarity of the recent wave of post-punk artists. Writing the song, and the album for that matter, I found greater influence in artists like The Pixies, Comsat Angels, and Big Country while still attempting to stay rooted in the sound crafted by artists like The Chameleons, The Sound, and Lowlife.
“Lyrically, ‘Minimal Change’ came at a time where we were all going through some major life changes. We are all transitioning into new points in our lives and the new roles and expectations that come with them. Often, these new expectations of us are at odds with what we truly want or believe in. So this song was an attempt at reconciling these changes in our lives, even when they go against what our expectations were.”
The True Faith consists of core members Travis Benson (vocals/guitar), Quentin Moyer (guitar) and Dylan Kotliar (bass). The band started as a solo project by Travis when he released the self-titled demo cassette, which was a darker minimal synth/industrial type sound. The demo caught the attention of à La Carte Records who approached them to release an album on the new label.
Benson recruited friend Quentin Moyer to play guitar on their debut EP, As Much Nothing As Possible, shifting towards more of a classic synth-pop sound. After the release of the EP, they began working on their first full-length album, They Can Always Hurt You More. The True Faith added Dylan Kotliar on bass during this time and had Tom Weir (from Old Moon) play drums. During the writing sessions for the album, they released two of the tracks originally intended for the LP as a 7″ (Leucovorin Rescue b/w What is Owed 7″ on à La Carte Records) and an additional song, “Giving Up,” was released as an exclusive track on a compilation for music outlet Destroy//Exist. The True Faith released They Can Always Hurt You More through à La Carte Records and went on an east coast tour with Doused.
Currently, the band also includes Nauman Javed on drums and Francisco Ilabaca on synth.
