Deep Dive: Trianglecuts – When Death Leaves

Manchester duo Trianglecuts know how to serve up some atmospheric electronics with a dark heart and delicious textures.

The duo – Gwen Osmond on vocals and visuals, and Doug Gordon on synths, beats, and music production – have just released the body-horror-referencing When Death Leaves. Cinematic and electrifying, its mix of electronic soundscapes and post-punk attitudes is immersive and intelligent. The track is conceptual, framing that in a way that leaves itself open to the listener, letting you lose yourself in the noirish tension of the arrangement and vocals. A big thank you to Doug for putting together this Deep Dive of the track for us.

Genesis of When Death Leaves and its lyrics

The lyrical theme is based around the personification of death as a female character that moves into different people’s bodies, almost like she invades them. Ultimately the host ends up unable to stand being in their own skin!

Instrumentation and recording

The song originally came from a jam with a 4 note microKORG synth riff which you can hear on the verse and subtly carries on throughout the song. The original song had a very simple Electribe drum machine beat as this was written as a live hardware jam with vocals.

More in depth drums were then programmed and the rest of the synth layers were recorded later in the studio, as were the vocals. The end result was a more multilayered dynamic song. All recording, mixing and mastering done by Trianglecuts.

Making the video

We drew inspiration from the single artwork by artist/graphic designer Lewis Mclean and used photographs we’d taken of lilies, then used different colour gels to blend the gothic romanticism theme of the song with a modern electronic dream-like feel that fits the synthesiser-based music.

Where does this particular track fit within your wider body of work?

This is the third single release from our upcoming album. The other two singles were A Way to Escape and Traces of Blood. This song is also the title of our upcoming album When Death Leaves. It is one of our more brooding atmospheric dreamy tracks with a slower, doomy feel.

What are you up to in the coming months?

Album release day set for end of May or early June. The album is called When Death Leaves and there will be a limited-edition cassette with artwork by Lewis Mclean, alongside an accompanying T-shirt design to be printed. Our next gig is SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY – Beauty Witch & Peer Hat stage at The Old Pint Pot in Salford on the 3rd of May.

Upcoming gigs include Strange Events at the Grafton Arms in Manchester (30th May), two gigs supporting Dead Space Chamber Music in Manchester (The Peer Hat – 26th June) and Bristol (The Crypt).

We are also playing in Middlesborough, Glasgow, Leeds, Northwich and London (date tbc), and a festival in an old cemetery in Sheffield. All details and ticket links can be accessed via our linktree.