Charming as hell, and packed with a lot of heart, The Tryouts turn feeling out of place into something extraordinary
Newcastle’s indie pop-rock duo The Tryouts have dropped the visuals for their latest single, ‘Ray Christ,’ a synth-laden gem balancing brooding vulnerability with a spark of hope.
It’s a perfect snapshot of that all-too-familiar feeling: wanting to escape your hometown, your school, your life. Remember faking a fever to dodge school? The Tryouts get it. The track nails that universal sense of dread that comes from being stuck in a place you don’t quite fit, where the only option is to dream of breaking free.
With equal parts Wes Anderson quirk and Weezer charm, the video, shot by Rick Clifford, places bandmates Chelsea and Dave in scout uniforms, navigating a stark suburban Newcastle beach town. It’s whimsical, offbeat, and packed with heart, turning the mundane into something extraordinary.
‘Ray Christ’ is more than just escapist nostalgia—it’s a masterclass in blending light and dark, melancholy and optimism. The song plays like a confession, its rawness wrapped in shimmering synths. According to Dave, one half of The Tryouts, the track’s origin story is as odd as it is fitting:
“Ray Christ is about a weird experiment they conducted in my hometown of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where the city planted palm trees to see how they would fare against the miserable climate. Except it’s not really about that at all…”
The palm trees may not have survived, but they sparked a song that explores feeling out of place and longing for something better. With lyrics like, ‘Give me something I want to believe in / Because I can’t stay another season / You know I wasn’t made for freezing,’ it captures that yearning for warmth, both literally and metaphorically.
Chelsea adds:“[Ray Christ] started off with the palm trees line. Dave was singing it at home one day, and I really liked it but it wasn’t until we took a little holiday/songwriting trip up the coast that we finished the majority of the song. Most Tryouts songs come together in a similar way – they often start with one of Dave’s ideas, which we then flesh out together and arrange for guitar, drums and vocals. Lyrically, the song is about a few things: nostalgia, being a kid, wanting to escape your hometown/school/life, and also palm trees (haha).”
‘Ray Christ’ hits all the right notes—a slice of escapism wrapped in sharp, clever storytelling. Check out their Spotify here.
