Troy Von Balthazar
About
All alone. (TvB) Troy von Balthazar, once born out of his former band Chokebore's mystic thunder, has become somewhat of a infamous ascetic, as the name of his previous album "How to live on nothing" already insinuates. But TvB (multi-instrumentalist, poet and composer) nowadays answers that "nothing" with a belligerent “Something!”“Knights of something" is his fourth solo-album and his first for the Los Angeles based record label New High Recordings ((home of notable artist Brett Netson, Paula Frazer and Tarnation, Knievel and Rob Zabrecky, amongst others).
Picture thirteen tropical flowers, some sweet, others poisonous, shining melancholically between a sharp and cutting voice. "Knights of something" is the new masterpiece of TvB who - lonelier, freer and more generous than ever - somehow manages to wrest the very best out of the eternal vapor.
TvB is a "Don Quixote", one of those "Knights of something", whose used Fender guitar serves him as his "Sancho Panza" during his travels. He thinks and sings about things that nobody would have thought of, or nobody would have dared to sing about. He brings, with all his strength, a part of the world to shine. The same world that would have been so much poorer and dishonest without him.
Chokebore, a Hawaii based band, produced 5 great albums (on the legendary AmRep-label, amongst others), coined Sad-Core as a genre definition and, in the early two thousands, even reached the higher spheres of indie pop paradise (if there is such a thing) with their album "It's a Miracle". The slightly bitter and sad undercurrent in TvB's work from that time has remained until today, in his poetry, his film music, and his solo-albums.
"Something", although not a very precise word, is definitely a reaction to the nothingness. "Knights of something", a knight of remote countries, epic ballades and romantic duels, in which TvB more often speaks with his hands than with his words. It is a tale about adversities and the virtues that are held against them. TvB has trust, even if he has learned, in music and on stage, to mostly trust himself. There are very few that can overwhelm you with so much honesty all by themselves.