Philly’s American Trappist began sharing new music this week from their next album Poison Reverse, beginning with the record’s first single, “Seg Fault.” Short for the term segmentation fault, it describes grappling with your past but eventually letting go for the sake of the present.
Like the mechanical computer failure the song references, American Trappist spins out on “Seg Fault,” grasping at holes in their memory. Appropriately, the band is animated in pixels written in Python script for the song’s music video directed by Hannah Darrah of Berlin Studios. “I’ve had to continually remind myself that letting go doesn’t mean I’m lesser than before,” says band leader Joe Michelini on Instagram. “And that all things given enough time in the universe will take on every possible configuration before returning to their original state.”
Perhaps less complicated than the meaning behind “Seg Fault” is the feeling it creates. Its thumping bass drum core and oscillating guitar lines set the ground for static-ripping riffs and ooze-dripping tones. The key of the song itself is specifically AmTrappe: gloomy and tense but full of heart.
You can catch American Trappist when the band plays a Germantown house show on Saturday 3/25 with Lily McKown and Donnie CoCo. Message @itsatrappe on Instagram for the address.