Author & Punisher is the solo project of Tristan Shone, a musician and mechanical engineer who combines these two worlds in his musical ventures with custom-designed instruments that he utilises in both recordings and in live performance. Stylistically, Shone creates music that could be summed up as “dystopian” sounding, defined by all-consuming walls of distortion, pounding industrial drum beats and howling vocals.

Shone is consistent and prolific in his output, having released eight studio albums since 2005, with his ninth, Krüller, to be released on February 11^th. Shone has now released three singles from this upcoming record: “Drone Carrying Dread”, “Maiden Star” and “Blacksmith.”

Shone has said of the new single, according to a press release: “’Blacksmith’ is a track that I co-wrote with the Krüller producer Jason Begin (Vytear)… This one is a bit of an adventure where we go from my slow bending drones and morph into Jason’s jungle and breaks with the same halftime bassline and vocals tying it together. Lyrically, this is an ode to Black women-led movements who have been fearlessly leading the way against oppression in this country for a long time.” 

Speaking more generally of the album and his creative process, Shone said: “Melody has been and is still a part of my sound… “I’ve always bathed them in a lot of reverb, delay, and distortion, though. This time around, I was bothered by the wall of distortion I had created… I wanted to step back from my own show and analyze it a bit. I had all these competing distortions that I wanted to streamline. I like contrast and wanted the vocals to be immediately noticeable. There’s something about mixing punishing drones and rumble with a mellow thing on top that I really like on Krüller.” 

Author & Punisher will be embarking on both a North American and EU tour in support of the record, but unfortunately for UK fans, the eight previously announced UK dates were cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. The European dates are still set to go forward, however they have been postponed until March. Author & Punisher will also be embarking on another EU tour in October with Perturbator and HEALTH.  Ticket information can be found here.

New album ‘Krüller’ is out February on 2xLP/CD/Digital via @RelapseRecords.

Pre-Order and watch/stream the opening song “Drone Carrying Dread” at https://t.co/qzKKtBhvbs

Art by Zlatko Mitev pic.twitter.com/fCmt4bqJYX

— Tristan Shone (@authorpunisher) December 7, 2021

To celebrate the announcement, Shone has also shared our first taste of new music since 2018’s Beastland with Octavia E. Butler inspired track “Drone Carrying Dread”. He had this to say about the new track, “This track was basically the one where it all clicked and I had these chords that resonated just right, shaking the entire warehouse. It’s a simple but raw progression that was ripe for the addition of synthesizer programming from co-producer Jason Begin (Vytear)” he then adds, “Lyrically, it’s about escape and survival, as the events that were unfolding in 2020 were prophesied by the books I was reading throughout the year”. See below the accompanying, graphically-saturated video directed by Monte Legaspi.

As well as newly refined machinery, fans will also be treated with a number of guest appearances on the LP; Including Tool’s Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor after Shone’s opening slot on Tool’s US and Oceania 2020 tour were cut short due to COVID-19, as well as a new interpretation of Portishead classic “Glory Box”.

Regarding changes to his gear; Shone claims, “Melody has been and is still a part of my sound,” and “[this time] I wanted a little more clarity. I wanted to refine the sound. I wanted to step back from my own show and analyze it a bit. I had all these competing distortions that I wanted to streamline. I like contrast and wanted the vocals to be immediately noticeable”. This hard work has led to the creation of a new bespoke audio gear company named after Shone’s Debut: “Drone Machines”. The company is as of yet only promised, not much of an online presence for the gear as of yet, but watch this space.

See below dates for Author & Punisher’s UK tour, get tickets here:

2/14/22 – UK Patterns – Brighton
2/15 – UK The Underworld – London
2/16 – UK Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
2/17 – UK Stereo – Glasgow
2/18 – UK Cluny – Newcastle
2/19 – UK Castle and Falcon – Birmingham
2/20 – UK Fleece – Bristol
2/21 – UK Deaf Institute – Manchester