Artists to Watch: Trove
Made in Australia but quickly catching on all over the world, International Pop Singer, Songwriter and Producer Trove is Music’s next big star. Noted for his mix of organic and electronic beats, Trove brings the worlds of live instrumentation and digital exploration together to produce music that is powerful, emotional and unmistakably individual. I was lucky enough to chat with him about his new song, ‘Cyclone’ and his Selftitled EP ‘Trove’ and the artist himself gave us a look into his creative process, his aspirations and what it means to be a music producer in the new decade.
Hi Trove, nice to chat with you! Congratulations on your new song ‘Cyclone’ and your new EP ‘Trove’; we’re absolutely loving it here at MODA Blog. For our readers who aren’t quite as familiar with you, why don’t you go ahead and let us know a little bit about yourself? How you got into the industry, where you began to discover music and producing, and a quick summary of your journey?
Thanks so much! Glad you like the new song. I started out playing drums and guitar as a kid and shortly went to piano and singing as a teenager. I had played in a band back home in Australia and ended up touring the country and releasing multiple records across a period of 8 years. The band broke up and I decided to move to LA to pursue my own solo endeavours. I had been producing for a few years prior, learning from other producers that my band had worked with and also doing a million different online courses/messing around with things. Once I moved to LA, I signed a publishing deal and a record deal, said yes to absolutely every writing session I could and slowly built a really good group of friends and collaborators around me. Fast forward two years later and I have just put out my debut EP, played a couple festivals including SXSW and Sundance and have had my songs featured in a handful of different TV shows and commercials.
As I said earlier, MODA Blog absolutely loves ‘Cyclone’, I’m curious about how it got put together; let’s start with what the inspiration for the song was?
This is actually one of those songs that didn't come together quite so easily. I wrote it two years ago ( the month I moved to LA actually) and it was originally for a DJ collaboration. When that collaboration didn't work out, I still really wanted to use the song as I genuinely really liked what I wrote. I then produced 5 different version over the next year and a half, none of which quite fit with the vocals so I left it alone for 6 months knowing that it was going to be the final song on the EP. When it was time for the release to be planned, I sat down and revisited it and it all came together in a matter of days. The final version that you hear, is the final version from my computer.
Generally do you find that themes or elements that influenced ‘Cyclone’ also influenced some of your other works? And in that same vein, is there something consistent that you’ve found in the kind of music you make?
I think all of my songs have a certain lyrical aspect in them that I would say represents me and how I like to express my stories and feelings. In terms of the concept of Cyclone, there have definitely been other songs written based around the same influences. In a weird way, it set the tone for the first kind of music I wrote when I moved here and then was the very last song that came together for the EP so I think there were definitely some moments of trying to pull from that.
Do you have any artistic influences for your work? Artists, sounds, experiences?
I love so many different kinds of music it's hard to pin it down to a single genre or artist. I feel most inspired when I hear someone say something in a unique way or a production sound I think is really cool. Experiences are probably the biggest influence for my music. I would have nothing to write about if I didn't go out and live my life and I have really made a point of doing that the past 12 months and I have the stories to prove it!
We know that you have quite an impressive musical background from learning classical instruments like piano, guitar and drums while also training yourself vocally and now incorporating digital sounds, I’m interested to hear about your process. When you write a song, where do the sounds and rhythms come from?
For the most part, I write to a guitar/piano chord progression that I come up with. I start with the bare minimum and if I think it holds it own for my own personal taste, I will then build a drum beat and start putting the building blocks together. One of the things I am most thankful for is that drums was my main instruments for so many years and also the first that I learned, so it has really helped me understand rhythm and the backbone of any song.
I love to work collaboratively, but Cyclone was completely independent and I really notice a difference between the two. I don't think either is better or worse, I do think that there is a time and place for both. Sometimes collaborators can pull ideas out of you that you never knew you had and vice versa. However, some songs need to be kept for yourself and I've really worked on my production skills to a point where I feel comfortable doing it all myself if I feel the desire!
Do you think about expressing a certain emotion, narrative or experience to a listener and what effect do you want your music to have on them?
I just want people to hear my music and relate to it in some way. I think we all go through very similar things in life and the emotion or situation I am dealing with in my current life is definitely something somebody else is going through in their own way. If my music can help people realize they're not alone in it, then I feel like I have succeeded in the reason I create music in the first place.
And moving on, I’ve heard you’re doing quite a bit of travelling recently, any interesting stories to share?
I visited 13 countries in 2019 and really took some time to see new parts of the world. A couple standouts:
• I got horrific food poisoning in Morocco and had to go to hospital, where I burst two veins in my nose from the fever, spilling blood everywhere.
• I drove through a blizzard from Nashville to LA and almost slid off the road, cracked my windshield and genuinely feared for my life
• I didn't pay for a train ticket in Berlin and got pulled off the train by two inspectors twice my size where they walked me to an ATM and charged me 60 Euros
• I went to a cafe with my label manager in Amsterdam where we smoked a joint and I got so high, I had to get him to call me an uber where I then made the driver drive around my block half a dozen times because I had no idea where I was until he eventually kicked me out and I had to find my way home for the next 45 minutes
310 Likes, 16 Comments - TROVE (@listentotrove) on Instagram: "Hello from a rooftop very far away from home. Had a couple thoughts about this year and whilst..."
203 Likes, 6 Comments - TROVE (@listentotrove) on Instagram: "Come have a drink with me and @jasonfrizzell this thanksgiving"
And now that you’ve entered 2020, dropped an EP of four songs, what else are youplanning for the new decade?
I'm currently in the middle of putting a collaborative EP with my very talented friend James Droll. We just dropped the first single and the second one comes out on Valentine's Day and it's called 'Nothing Matters Then We Die' :) The second Trove EP will be out later this year too!
“Sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan, but as long as you love the work and love creating, you’ll always be happy. ”
If you could give advice to your younger self or perhaps to any of our readers who are
considering a career in music, what would you say?
To my younger self: be kind to yourself, your inner critic has nothing to do with who you are
To others: Write, write, write. Continuously develop your skills and find a love for learning. Move to bigger cities where collaboration is more present and also be kind to yourself. Never give up! I've been doing this for 10 years now and I just put out my debut EP lol. Sometimes things don't work out the way you plan, but as long as you love the work and love creating, you'll always be happy.
You can check out Trove’s work on his Site, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
Featured Image via.
