Following on from a string of impactful offerings these last few months, San Diego-based artist Trevy James is back on the grind once again to deliver his shimmering new single 'Perfect Sense'.
Bringing back more of that rich and riveting soul-infused aesthetic he has been crafting since he first emerged, 'Perfect Sense' makes for an incredibly warm and emotive return for him. With its broad and alluring textures, soaring atmosphere, and his own captivating vocals at the helm, he is returning to the fold with one of his more impactful tracks to date here.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with him to find out more about his origins and what has been inspiring him most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Although I am primarily a keyboard player today, I first fell in love with the saxophone when I started learning the instrument in the 6th grade. A year later, the piano quickly took over my affections, but I still play saxophone today. I’m actually the one playing tenor sax on my tune “Perfect Sense,” and handle all of the saxophone duties on the rest of my forthcoming album next year.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
I was raised around reggae music my whole life, as my father is also a reggae keyboardist, so my true first musical love has always been reggae. Artists and bands like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Steel Pulse, Third World, and Boom Shaka were staples of my childhood. In my younger years, I also got really heavy into hip-hop, specifically OutKast, Jurassic 5, De La Soul, Black Star, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien to name a few of my favourites when I was growing up.
What was the first album you remember owning?
Like any good 90’s kid, the first album purchases of my own choosing were cassettes of the debut albums from both *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys in preparation for a family summer trip.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Oh man, it’s hard to pick just one. So many songs have given me that feeling over the years. I don’t think I can choose one winner between either Sade’s “The Sweetest Taboo” and Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love.” Both songs, to me, are just the perfect example of the kind of truly iconic, timeless musical expression that I strive to achieve when I’m writing a song today. Oh yeah! And an honourable mention to the Sherman Brothers’ “Grim Grinning Ghosts” from The Haunted Mansion at the Disney parks.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
I personally don’t have any specific rituals. Inspiration for me comes at so many different times and at different places that I’ve never been able to have one set method for writing. Sometimes I’m scatting a melody idea into my phone as a starting point, sometimes I’ll just sit at the piano alone to write the lyrics with only the chord structure behind it, and other times I’m writing with the rest of my musical collaborators flushing out a full arrangement in one sitting. It’s always a different experience for each individual song.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
On my own listening side, I’m pretty much a creature of habit. Sade is my top artist on Spotify literally every single year. Within reggae, I’ve been a huge fan of Chronixx for many years and consistently enjoy his catalog as well. Recently, I have also been looking back heavily to some of the great American bands from the 70’s & early 80’s… the proverbial “yacht rock” if you will, so I’ve had a lot of Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and TOTO in rotation as well.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Not to sound like a broken record, but the absolute dream would be having the opportunity to open for that potential next Sade tour that hopefully will manifest one of these days.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
I really believe that musical expression is such an integral piece of our human collective consciousness. So to me, being able to spend my relatively short time here on this Earth contributing to this pool of creation that both predates and outlives us all is the greatest gift imaginable.
And what is the most frustrating part?
For me, it’s just this crazy double edged sword of the music industry in the social media age. While on one hand, the production of recorded music is so much more accessible and democratized, the market just feels like a literal ocean of music that ultimately the major labels still have just as much control of today, if not more so than ever. And this pressure, I feel, is changing how music is fundamentally written and performed, which I find to be quite sad. Songs are getting shorter, vocal performances are getting more robotic and digitally altered, and really powerful elements of song structure like bridges, key changes, solo sections, etc. are falling out of favor with writers and listeners alike. So for me as an artist who strives to push the bar both musically and lyrically into more conscious, creative, and experimental places, it can definitely be frustrating at times trying to find where the audience niché that still craves to hear such ideas is in this vast musical ocean.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
One of my professors at Berklee College of Music really changed my perspective once when he pointed out that so many of the most iconic artists in music history aren’t necessarily the strongest vocalists. At the time, I was strictly just a rapper and had no confidence whatsoever in my singing ability. That seemingly casual observation really opened my eyes to the complexity of what makes great music and helped ease a lot of my youthful anxiety around incorporating singing into my toolbox. These days, I’m singing probably 90% of the time now and only pull out the old rap vibe in very limited instances.
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Trevy James' new single 'Perfect Sense' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.