Music
Press
[Kids of Big Stars] "Great modern pop...songwriting, performance and production that makes you want to hear [the CD] over and over again...I just keep hitting replay."
"great melodic vocals and well crafted harmonies...stunning guitar work...This is a terrific, right-on-the-money record." - indie-music.com
[Kids of Big Stars] "...Plays like an easygoing soundtrack to a summer afternoon.
Like The Sundays and Belle and Sebastian, male and female vocals bring sweet harmonies that create the perfect dreamy pop...the music is effortless, laidback, and oftentimes very catchy."
"A retro feel...harkening back to artists such as Frente!, Lisa Loeb, or The Cranberries..."
- Score! Music Magazine
On Hotel Two-Way, local quartet Tryst plays a gentle orch-pop indebted to both contemporaries (Belle and Sebastian) and older acts (the Free Design, Simon and Garfunkel). The band manages to
sound comforting without being cheesy or maudlin-- no small trick.
- Jay Ruttenberg
TimeOutNY on Tryst:
“Lush, jaunty and smooth, Brooklyn's Tryst plays pop songs for the cocktail set…infectious melodies” - Time Out NY
From the onset, Hotel Two-Way establishes itself as a beautiful pop record … the vocals are warm and inviting, the guitars are riff-happy and subtle, the lyrics are romantic and playful. The title track [is] a beautiful tune containing what I consider the lyric of the year: "I'm waiting for a holiday / Whether it's gray or blue / Even Columbus Day will do / So I can have a little sex with you / Before my sister gets home from NYU". Playful and tender, in a nutshell. - popmatters.com
[Hotel Two Way] An album named for a Japanese rendezvous spot proves a lovely taste of Americana in this underexposed indie release. Tryst makes an impressive surge forward with this follow-up to 2003's Kids of Big Stars, drawing equal influence from the alt-country pensiveness of Wilco and the restrained pop sensibilities of Prefab Sprout... There is a very consistent theme at work: that one can't have everything, but one can have sex and temporary connection, and armed with that, one can bop through just about anything. It may be a faintly desperate ideology, but Tryst expresses it sensitively and with genuine passion, most successfully on the melodically lovely "Jessica," which offers a thoughtful and cliché-free lyric, choice harmonies, and a light, airy bridge. "Alexis" is another standout, the band deftly navigating the intersection between modern rock and alt-country, while "Abigail" playfully celebrates middle-class love as references to Freud and voicemails at work complete the picture. Tryst's combination of restrained, upbeat instrumentation with clear and plain truths make this an album well worth seeking out.
- All Music Review - allmusic.com
[Kids of Big Stars] "The disc's first two tracks are certified gems, feeding off of Tim Cohan and Ellen Highstone's intertwining voices and some decidedly hi-fi, layered arrangements...'Dirty Trick' sports an infectious, insanely melodic guitar lick that perfectly matches its vocals, while 'Mauna Loa' throws a wrench in the album's breezy indie pop gears via an oft-repeated rhythmic meltdown. 'The End' finally gives you the distorted guitars you've been jonesing for, and 'Telephone Kisses' catapults Highstone's angelic vocals to heights uncharted." - Splendid Ezine
Tryst "Hotel Two-Way" (MH Records 2005) This is the third album from this two male, two female band, who although based in New York, have a sound which is firmly rooted in British pop of the 80s and 90s. "Little known" bands such as Prefab Sprout and Deacon Blue are influences, but there is also evidence of more than a passing exposure to Beautiful South, Belle and Sebastian, and even Oasis, most notably on "Fort St Jean.” The songs, all written by guitarist / vocalist Tim Cohan, all fall into the intelligent, melodic pop category. Cohan's singing style is heard to good effect on the Arthur Lee influenced "Special Thing” and the summery, major seventh dominated "Chain Reaction." … Their overall sound with big, chiming guitar chords to the fore, does justice to Cohan's thoughtful compositions.
- Americana UK - americana-uk.com
Riding high in pop music’s stratosphere, Tryst are masters of the hook on their third album “Hotel Two Way” which offers eleven beautifully crafted songs that will refresh your ears and have you singing along in no time. Making song writing sound effortless, this Brooklyn based band deserve to hit the big time with their perfect harmonies and tight playing that elevates them above the mindless pap that generally clutters up the charts. If you don’t believe me then listen to the glorious sunshine of “Chain Reaction” or the brilliant vocal delivery of “Special Thing”, and then tell me that you don’t crave a little bit of sweetness sometimes. (MH Records tryst@mhrecords.com).
- Terrascope - terrascope.co.uk
Tryst's album Hotel Two-Way is a sophisticated, folk-rock, roots-pop affair from these Brooklyn-ites--think "L'Avventura" by Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham meets Belle and Sebastian. Tryst's male-female vocal interplay definitely catches the ear and is used to great effect on [Alexis]. The album is enjoyable from beginning to end, with tunes like "Still," "Chain Reaction," and "Fort St. Jean" serving as bittersweet mementos of the summer's end. [CK] - www.usm.edu/wusm
How are these guys still under the radar? Tryst's third LP consists of eleven more precious pop tunes that coast along effortlessly from start to finish. Frontman Tim Cohan's slyly brilliant lyrics mesh perfectly with his compelling everyman voice, charming melodies and Decemberists-esque lush instrumentation.
Hotel Two-Way is named after a "love hotel" in Tokyo that makes its money by housing, well, trysts, and temporary love's power to conquer all is a lyrical motif that permeates this pop nugget. Cohan's lyrics attack that subject from sharp angles - metaphorically wishing to be Jessica Lynch's "private hero" on the acoustic opener, professing love through the boss's voicemail on "Abigail", and nicking lyrics from one of the lucky few poets in history who can legitimately claim to be cleverer than Cohan - William Shakespeare - on "Balthasar's Song," which spins a Much Ado About Nothing highlight into a pop highlight....
But the song that rises above the rest of these peaks is the title track, a pop masterpiece that features Cohan at his cunning best. The verses flow seamlessly from what-the-hell-was-I-thinking, to frankly wishing for sex, to genuine longing, tied together by a chorus that calls the Hotel Two-Way "more fun than the one-way, less fun than the three-way, her way or the highway back to old LA." Genius.
- indieville.com
Discography
Hotel Two Way (LP, 2005)
includes singles:
"Alexis"
"Hotel Two Way"
"Chain Reaction"
"Fort St. Jean"
Kids of Big Stars (LP, 2003)
includes singles:
"Spin My Wheels"
"Kids of Big Stars"
"Dirty Trick"
"Crush"
Tryst (LP, 2000)
Spain (EP, 1997)
Photos
Bio
"Lush, jaunty, and smooth" (TimeOutNY), the Brooklyn-based pop-rock band Tryst produces melodic, well-crafted pop based on Cohan's witty and thoughtful lyrics and Highstone's airy harmonies. Their influences range from little-known Eighties bands from the UK (Prefab Sprout, Deacon Blue) to the more current sounds of Belle & Sebastian, The Decemberists, Fountains of Wayne, and Magnetic Fields.
The band's first EP, produced by Fountains’ Chris Collingwood and mixed by Ivy’s Andy Chase, was followed by regular performances on the New York pop scene. The band then began to travel extensively, punctuated by return shows in NY (Mercury Lounge, Southpaw, Pianos, Sin-é); over three years the band played numerous shows in Paris, London, Dublin, and most recently Tokyo. Tryst released their 2nd album, “Kids of Big Stars,” in December 2003. The album garnered significant rotation on college radio stations on the East Coast and Midwest, the praise and attention of indie press, and a growing audience from New York to Tokyo.
In summer 2005, Tryst’s third album, "Hotel Two-Way" (MH Records) was released. Tryst celebrated with a special release show at Pianos in Manhattan and played a series of shows across the East Coast to promote the release. The CD is available on itunes, Tower Records, on the net and in record stores.
About “Hotel Two-Way”
Hotel Two-Way is Tryst’s third full-length release. All tracks have Tryst’s catchy choruses and haunting harmonies, and range from the punchy, southern-rock-flavored “Alexis,” to the upbeat pop classic “Hotel Two-Way,” to the all-acoustic Jessica, whose lyrics are loosely based on the story of Private Jessica Lynch.
For this album, front man and producer Cohan enlisted the assistance of the New York “Loser's Lounge” violinist Claudia Chopek, whose haunting string arrangements on the acoustic numbers recall Robert Kirby's instrumentation for Nick Drake's Bryter Layter. Guitarist McIlvain outdoes himself with unforgettable hooks, particularly on “Balthasar's Song” and the title track, “Hotel Two-Way.” “Abigail,” in which the narrator sings into his boss's voicemail, was mixed by Mike Viola of the New-York-based Candy Butchers. The title track comes from the name of a Tokyo “love hotel;” when the band was in Tokyo they would refer to these quaint short-stay hotels to explain to their hosts what a “tryst” is.
The album was recorded at Hoex Studios in Albany, NY, near Cohan’s home town of Saratoga Springs. Mike Viola of The Candy Butchers mixed “Abigail” and added vocals to “Still.” The CD is available on itunes, in stores, or through www.tryst-music.com.
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