Troum – EmphasYs (Digital/CD Album – Cyclic Law)
To find the first work by the German duo Troum, one has to go back nearly 30 years. Since then, they have built an impressive discography, collaborating with a wide range of labels. With this new album, they open the doors of Cyclic Law and return with a remarkable opus.
“EmphasYs” was several years in the making, largely due to the conceptual approach centered on the use of instruments. Each track highlights a specific instrument—electric guitar, cello, accordion, didgeridoo, acoustic guitar, zither, and saxophone—while the sounds are further processed and manipulated. The result is a dark yet predominantly serene sonic experience, situated somewhere between Troum’s signature Drone-Ambient style and a more Cinematic and Experimental approach. At times, the listener is drawn into an abyssal soundscape, only to be carried into icy textures supported by deep, resonant tones that evoke a nightmarish atmosphere. A wide range of tonalities and effects comes into play, underlining the duo’s craftsmanship and attention to detail.
The concept may sound challenging, but the outcome fully lives up to the expectations one might have of Troum. (Rating:8).
Listen to “Oxblood Red”:
Read the news on ‘EmphasYs’.
About Troum
Troum is a Bremen-based German drone and dark ambient duo founded in early 1997 by Stefan Knappe and Martin Gitschel after the end of their previous project Maeror Tri. Alongside their work as artists, the members are behind Drone Records, which has documented a wide range of experimental and ambient music since the 1990s.
The project focuses on multi-layered, largely guitar-based and tape-based drones, combining electric and acoustic instruments, voices and field recordings while avoiding samplers and computer-generated sound. Over time, Troum have issued a large series of albums, EPs and collaborations through labels such as Transgredient Records, Essence Music, Zoharum, Cold Spring and Cyclic Law.
Key long-form releases include albums such as “Tjukurrpa” from the early 2000s, later works like “Acouasme” on Cold Spring in the mid-2010s, and compilation-style sets like “Da-Pu-Ri-To-Jo (The Singles 2004-2016)” on Zoharum, which gathered rare and single tracks into one edition.
With “EmphasYs”, released on digital and CD, Troum add Cyclic Law to that list of labels; each of the album’s tracks is built around a single highlighted instrument.
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