GROWTH
THE SMOTHERING ARMS OF MERCY (LTD.DIGI)

GROWTH began as a reflective space for brothers Tristan (guitars/bass/artwork) and Nelson Barnes (drums) in Melbourne,
Australia, each having spent a decade separate and pursuing music overseas. Upon returning to Australia to come to terms
with his personal demons and receiving a mental health diagnosis that hit with closure and terror all at once, Tristan became
a recluse - isolated, debilitated, and expressing his pain through writing. Meanwhile, vocalist Luke Frizon had withdrawn from
life to enter a period of recovery after reaching rock bottom, seeking to reconnect with himself and make meaning of
hopelessness, trauma, and loss. A chance meeting on a mutual first outing from respective isolation sparked a discussion about the empathic aspects of music and quickly led to a partnership. With the line-up rounded out, the trio set out to create music that explored the human aspects of connection, trauma, despair, and the fragility of hope. The result is THE SMOTHERING ARMS OF MERCY, a claustrophobic narrative of total spiritual collapse written while in psychiatric care and thrown over nine suffocating acts. This marks the first part of a trilogy aimed at going beyond expressing emotion, illustrating pathways of recovery while
acknowledging the most dread-filled aspects of it.