After leaving a career as mechanical engineer in Boston to focus on art and sculpture, Tristan Shone, the creator and sole artist behind Author & Punisher, moved west to pursue his MFA in Southern California. In the metal and machine shops of University of California, San Diego, Shone forged a relationship with design, sound and fabrication that ultimately yielded Author & Punisher’s first music which mapped the journey away from traditional instrumentation towards custom made, precision machinery. Shone used his technical knowledge, along with his artistic background to create what Wired Magazine has hailed as his own “special brand of doom metal”, using these custom “Drone Machines”.

All aspects of the Author & Punisher sound begin with physical movement, limbs struggling in unison to coordinate a wall of electronic rhythm and oscillation, ultimately conditioned by an organic and loose quality absent of plastic perfection. Author & Punisher performances are a real amalgamation between man and mechanisms. They are direct, physical, heavy experiences that have amassed praise and intrigue from a wide array of audiences. Pitchfork styled him “immediate but mysterious”, Stereogum described his “chilling, unrecognizable form,” and NPR hails him as “a thrill [who] fires on all cylinders”.

In 2018 Author & Punisher delivered his sixth full-length recording and Relapse debut Beastland. A robotic experimentation in industrial metal, noise, doom and drone – it recalls Nine Inch Nails channelling Godflesh, traversing through dark, uncompromising, and often disturbing soundscapes with occasional detours into rich melodies and splinters of light. Armed with newly built “Drone Machines” and a new label, Beastland is Author & Punisher’s career-defining statement and a powerful listening experience that further blurs the line between man and machine.

Úir

Support will come from Edinburgh black metallers Úir. Formed in 2015, Úir create a raw, natural, atmospheric sound that draws on inspiration from various genres of music. With a new line up, the band are about to release their next EP Óenach Tailten.