Congruency in the Crafts: Author & Punisher

The one-man band that is Author and Punisher interestingly produces industrial-metal sounds with the use of custom-made mechanisms that create unique and aggressive compilations of noise by ingeniously unifying literal metal and music.

Tristan Shone | Photo by John F Peters

Triston Shone created the band Author and Punisher. Shone began his professional life as a mechanical engineer leading to ventures in the world of robotics and other intricate mechanisms. No stranger to machines, he naturally managed to incorporate custom-made instruments into his music.

Shone has a distinct musical form that merges his prowess in machinery with his ear for doom metal. His skills do not exist as separate crafts but unify to form masterpieces. He approaches music by engineering instruments to aid him in creating eerie and oscillating sounds that cannot be achieved on the typical instrumental spectrum. The metal mechanisms of Shone’s work create distinct sounds that fans of any music remotely in the sphere of industrial metal can appreciate.

Author and Punisher’s music includes the use of captivating drones that pass sound through Shone’s hand-crafted instruments. These electrically-altered vocals, as well as his other sounds, make his whole ensemble much more intriguing and rawer than any other.

By creating his own mechanisms through the use of his engineering expertise, Shone expands not only his sound but revolutionizes musical possibilities in general. Shone does not leave it up to preexisting instruments to do the job of creating sound. Instead, he has been bringing his skills in vastly different fields together to create something idiosyncratic in sound and music.

Shone’s instrumentation is primarily a composition of metals and other industrial components. His strange looking masks serve as mics and help Shone produce the distorted sounds he wants to produce. He controls the way his vocals are heard as well as the mechanisms that distort those same vocals. When it comes to the production of sound, Shone is in control. 

Across his released music, the sounds you hear are as industrial as possible. Shone’s music produces soundscapes that allude to thoughts of a mysterious and impending doom. His expertise with machinery definitely seeps into his musical craft to create an artistic auditory dystopia.

Tristan Shone Mute Mask | Photo Courtesy Tristanshone.com

In his musical craft, Shone’s production of eerie and aggressive sounds through steel would not exist if it were not for his mechanical engineering background. Tristan Shone has taken his knowledge of mechanical engineering and applied into another field to create a one-of-a-kind collection of instrumentation and sound. Shone has taken it upon himself to fabricate contraptions that work well for him.

STEM has proven to not be limiting in the arts. In fact, it helps Shone create some of the most intense and unusual sounds I have heard in a good minute. His application of engineering into the art of music is something quite relevant that also addresses some of the stressors the youth face today.

Many young people in this day and age, especially in higher education, are unsure of how they can apply their area of study into the “real world.” They struggle to find something of interest to them that can also double as a sustainable career and an outlet for expression. Wary of their desired fields’ applicability, they might feel as though they are bounded into one career path or field. As for Author and Punisher, I see the mechanical engineer, Tristan Shone, take a much more inventive approach to this issue by incorporating academia into a passion.

Shone uses his knowledge in one specific, narrow area to master another craft such as music and performative artistry within the industrial realm. This application of skill into the arts is something I greatly admire and is quite inspirational. Author and Punisher stands as the new expressive and freeing arc for a mechanical engineer. Anyone in a given academic field can view him as motivation to dive into other components such as art that can potentially complement their work.

The image of Shone’s performance alone is something to admire. Tristan Shone appears to be almost cyborg-like. surrounded by his own contraptions, he gives his audience an aggressive yet lithe performance. His appearances like the one in his Berlin Boiler Room demonstrate how well Shone’s avant-garde tendencies blend with his destructive and emotionally heavy sounds.

Author and Punisher has been producing its doom metal sounds for quite a while now. Beastland, released on October 5th, is Author and Punisher’s latest album, and if the name doesn’t catch your attention, the song titles and the noise itself definitely will. My personal favorite “Nihil Strength“, the second song on their latest album, has a video that demonstrates the physical skill it takes for Shone to man his custom mechanisms and express a sort of rage through his interesting and odd-looking custom microphones, or masks, one which can be described by Shone himself as “essentially a harmonica with eight microphones.”

Author and Punisher’s instrumentation alone sets it apart from other musical ensembles. Alongside the instrumentation, Shone’s voice and music create rhythmically pleasing sounds to metal fans that envelop and intensify the area around any listener. Any rage one might feel or destructive tendency that might be lurking around finds a place in Author and Punisher’s sounds.

If finding escape in sight and sound is your thing and if you have an appreciation for any type of tinkering, craft, metal, or emotionally heavy sounds, make sure to check out Author and Punisher’s new album Beastland as well as Tristan Shone’s page for more details about the intricacies of his mechanisms.