Toronto shoegaze outfit Rituals first stirred to life in 2009, a quiet experiment in Adam Seward’s small, dim room, where lo-fi post-punk and shoegaze simmered in shadows. As Seward spun these somber sounds, he drew in kindred spirits, cutting their teeth on dimly-lit stages, bleeding raw, restless energy into two releases: a self-titled EP in 2010 and then Mesmerized in 2012.
But in 2014, life took Adam into the world of filmmaking, where music became a private affair, hidden yet simmering in quiet. A decade passed, and in late 2022, Adam sifted through these quiet creations, pulling select tracks from the dark recesses. By 2023, Rituals found its rebirth with a fresh cast—Phil Wilson, Chris Riel, and Alistair Blundale—breathing new life into old sounds. The music emerged matured, tempered by time, ready once again to meet the night and whatever restless souls wait within it.
Illusions drifts in, a slow, sinuous groove, its drums low and steady, pulling like a whispered secret, while vocals slip through like smoke over the hum of ringing guitars. There’s a gothic pulse here, yet it sways with a psychedelic ease, conjuring the hazy feel of early ’90s trip-hop but softened, as if filtered through a serene mist. One might sense the velvety touch of The Veldt, the rawness of Black Tambourine, the shimmer of Lilys, with faint echoes of Jeff Buckley’s poetic soul, all merging into a reverie that lingers, lulling, before it fades.
Listen to Illusions below, and order the single here.
Rituals began as Adam Seward’s solitary pursuit, a whisper of sound in the quiet, but by 2009, it had taken root and grown, its raw pulse spilling onto stages from New York to Montreal, Halifax to Southern Ontario. Sharing the spotlight with fierce comrades—METZ, Odonis Odonis, Mac DeMarco, and A Place to Bury Strangers—their sound sharpened, shadowed by the grit of live shows, including SXSW in 2012. In 2023, Rituals surged back to life, renewed with fresh material, building toward a release slated for 2025 and ready once more to haunt the lights of every crowded stage.
Follow Rituals:
Facebook
Instagram
Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple Music
The post Toronto Shoegazers Rituals Debut Hazy Trip-Hop Single “Illusions” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.