Tristan Allen

Casually dropping another epic Osni art bomb on your face, voila BOOM! Was trying to write something cool, slightly professional, maybe even profound about ‘Osni the Flare’ but this is all I’ve got. Give the album a listen, the proof is in the pudding 🔥

Here are photos from the album release show at Stone Circle Theatre (@sctrpc ). Big thanks to @rvngintl and @adhocfm for making this happen and to Frances Chang (@p.l.u.t.o.n.e.s.s ) for the amazing music. Huge thanks to those who came! It was such a special night, still feel like a champion for making it to the other end of this big project. Hoping to keep performing it, looking for more dark rooms with big sound. Osni forever 🔥 Photos by the incredible @ryanmuir 📸

Here’s the story for Osni. Thank you @salamandersquash for helping me put it in words. When I was little, my mom brought me to see ballet. We would then talk about the show over the scent of mosquito candles in our backyard. I told her what I thought happened, and she listened, never correcting or revealing the “true” plot. Through my imagination, stories came to life in soaring vividness. This memory, along with similar experiences of listening to albums were incredibly formative. I encourage the adventure of going into shows blind, allowing yourself to become the protagonist in the world a show creates. The following contains a description of what I envisioned for the album/puppet show Osni the Flare. Your own imagination probably has a super cool version of events, but my plot is here if you’re curious.

last friday, frances chang (@p.l.u.t.o.n.e.s.s ) and tristan allen (@audiotootoo ) presented two indelible performances at stone circle theater (@sctrpc ) in ridgewood, queens – a celebration to mark the recent radiant releases of tristan’s osni the flare and frances’ i can feel the waves 7 inch above, a look back on the night’s festivities, as captured by the perceptive lens @ryanmuir 📸 🎆

Today on TCI 🎎 Puppeteer and musician Tristan Allen (@audiotootoo ) speaks with writer Max Freedman (@tootalltoride ) about empowering creativity through competition, setting goals, telling stories without words, and not always loving what you do. 🥀 Slide 1: “I struggled with discipline and creative working, getting in the chair, for a very long time, and it made me quite miserable.” Slide 2: “I was treating creativity very romantically, waiting for a lightning-bolt moment or, like in the movies, things to just explode out of me. For me, that doesn’t exist.” Slide 3: “I really do believe that, if you’re going to be doing this stuff, you’ve got to do it every day. Really beautiful things will happen, but don’t expect to want to be doing it all the time or feel inspired to do it all the time.” Slide 4: “Every day, I tally the amount of hours I’ve spent doing creative work, and I keep them on these card-shaped wooden things, and they’re all behind me looking at me. I try to beat my score every month or at least get a good one. And then, I see over the years that I’m getting better at creativity, which is what I want to be the best at.” Slide 5: “I’m just somebody who has this need, even if it’s maybe not in my health’s best interest, to do the most and the best I can.” Slide 6: “What success means to me is changing depending on where I am. I’ve always had these very simple but concrete goalposts.” Slide 7: “One [goal] I have currently is for a stranger to invite me to a place far away that I’ve never been, someone who has enough incentive to see me perform and is able to pay for a night at a hotel. And then, I would take a bath in that hotel after the show, and under the water, I would scream, ‘I did it,’ and then I would come up with my next goal.”

I contributed a song to ‘Just Cause Vol. 2’, a massive compilation with all proceeds going to the @immdefense . It’s up on Bandcamp now! The song is called Tregva. I made it in LA in 2013 while staying at a dear friend’s house for the summer. I was surrounded by a lot of concrete, bathing frequently, and looking into the origins of my name, beyond Tristan & Isolde. What I discovered inspired Tregva ~ Tristan ruled Lyonesse, a lost kingdom of arthurian legend, home to 140 churches, each with their own ringing bell. Overnight, The island Lyonesse was drowned by sea, the land and its people never to be seen again. The Seven Stones Reef is said to be all that remains of Lyonesse. Local fisherman call the seven stones “the town” or “tregva” (slang for resting place). Many have claimed to see towers, domes, spires, and battlements beneath the waves. Others have woke to the sound of muffled ringing by the reef. Locals explain this as the ringing of the lost church bells of Lyonesse. “Back to the sunset bound of Lyonesse A land of old upheaven from the abyss By fire, to sink into the abyss again; Where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt, And the long mountains ended in a coast Of ever-shifting sand, and far away The phantom circle of a moaning sea.” - Alfred, Lord Tennyson Image 1: art I made of a boat for Tregva Image 2: Bernard Sleigh’s Map of Faeryland Image 3: Just Cause Vol.2 art by Aldrin Regina Valdez

origin of fire told through music & puppetry Osni the Flare ~ album out now

tristan allen’s osni the flare manifests in this realm today–a world of an album, embedded in human and fantastical spirits 🔥🐉 from the moment our paths serendipitously crossed, tristan held a deeply ambitious vision: to complete a trilogy synthesizing music and puppetry, unfolding a timeless creation myth. as rvng began work on allen’s debut, tin iso and the dawn, the origins of osni the flare were already materializing, steadily taking shape through their boundless creative impulses. thus, when they submitted the music of osni, the album arrived without conceptual or logistical surprise the surprise lied in the magnitude of tristan’s ambition, in both its musical and theatrical qualities. osni furthers their exploration of minimalist composition, navigating new territory while churning their textures and palette into a patent sound. allen’s music is unmistakably and entirely their own; the ambience is immediate and immersive, inviting you inside their narrative, making you ache, coloring your waking dream seeing tristan enact their puppet ballet live only adds to the magnitude, bringing dramatic new dimensions to their practice and performance. the puppets, each meticulously handmade and lifelike, bordering on haunted, exist not in the shadows but as sculptural manifestations. allen choreographs the experience alone, magically in sync within each scene and sound, blurring the lines between puppet and puppeteer while one might be lucky enough to see tristan perform osni the flare live, the sonic world they have built does not rely on this. in a day and age where skepticism holds control, you need only to surrender to imagination to appreciate this most incredible work of art. perhaps there is an entirely different world awaiting, welcoming you when you listen to osni osni the flare is available now in artist and black vinyl, a beautiful artist edition with prints, japanese import cd (via @plancha92104 ), and digital editions. all available via the rvng webstore, @bandcamp , and streaming across all platforms

“act iv: everglow” is the final window into tristan allen’s (@audiotootoo ) osni the flare, emerging into our world just before the album arrives in full this friday, march 27 𓁺 opening with a stretched, wavering hum that scorches like brushfire—discordant and searing—“act iv everglow” brings osni’s journey to its final act. its main chords recorded on a basement pump organ, the track carries reluctant acceptance, building into a melodic sequence that offers sublime resolution as the enchanting melody descends, accompanied by the cough of allen’s apartment radiator, the song veers into a somber atmosphere: transformation brought to fruition. involuntary whistling emerges from shadow as the act closes—a human trace lingering as osni’s soul departs the mortal realm the final single emerges with a video skillfully documented, as always, by travis hood and @rosswmayfield . osni the flare arrives in its entrancing entirety this friday, available in artist and black vinyl, japanese import cd via @plancha_92104 , and digital editions ঌ 🎛️ composed, performed, and recorded by tristan allen 🎚️ mixed by paul corley 🪡 mastered by @studioschwebung 📸 photo by virginia garcia ruiz 📹 video by travis hood and ross mayfield 📐 design by @willworkforgood

Here’s the Osni and tree drawings for Act III & IV of Osni the Flare - out this Friday on @rvngintl Whether I’m drawing these dots, making music, or puppeteering - it’s all the same thing, coming from the same place. The tedious stuff is always my favorite, working bit by bit till the shapes, sounds, and movements become whole. I don’t remember playing with action figures or dolls but I did organize my fish collection by color and water depth. Lately, I’ve been meticulously sorting my Magic the Gathering collection, building the ultimate cube. Please message me if you’d like to battle here in Brooklyn (please no commander for the love of god) ⚔️

Osni the Flare ~ album out on @rvngintl & @plancha_92104 in one week! Can’t believe it, felt so far away and now it’s spring and the album release is almost here. Fidgeting, pacing, counting days… beyond excited to share what I think is the best thing I’ve made. If you want to hear/see the 2nd single or preorder type this in - lnk.to/rvngnl133

Here’s the dragon and loon drawings for Act I & II of Osni the Flare - out March 27 on @rvngintl I like making these stippled drawings for each act. I’ve made it through a lot of fantasy audiobooks doing these. The first single/music video is all over the place (spotify/bandcamp/youtube). It’s also on my newly updated website (link in bio)! More to come ~