REVIEW: Trevor Drury — Alice (It’s All in Your Head) (EP)
Trevor Drury’s new EP release, Alice (It’s All in Your Head), is a six-track collection that positions the San Diego-raised young artist as one of the indie scene’s most compelling rising talents. His musical story began in earnest when he started playing piano at eight years old, and Drury’s passion blossomed fast. He later studied music at San Diego State University and London’s BIMM Music Institute before embarking on a current degree program at Boston, Massachusetts’ renowned Berklee College of Music.
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His growing academic history never neuters his talent, and nothing about these six tracks sounds studied. The grandiose alt-pop inclinations of the opener and nominal title track throw down a gauntlet. “Alice (Wonderland Mix)” churns with an unmistakable mechanical clang yet remains intensely musical. Drury’s arrangement scatters hints of imminent disorder without ever careening off-course, and juxtaposing the near-chaos of the music with his comparatively calm vocals makes a definite impact on listeners. It’s an astonishing start that sets the bar high for the EP’s remaining five tunes.
However, Drury doesn’t disappoint. “Like a Stone” serves notice that he’s a bit of a stylistic chameleon. The second track keeps many of the same alt-pop sensibilities defining the opener. He employs them in a distinctly different fashion. This song relies much more on atmospherics, never shallow, and opts for a lush texture over the rough edges in the first cut. Drury packs “Leviathan” with eye-popping creativity. A cursory listen to the cut may make it sound like several songs packed into one, but a deeper pass reveals that the handful of near-180-degree turns share common threads. The final result never sounds disjointed.
The glittering piano-propelled pop genius of “Teenage Fantasy” reveals another of Drury’s many musical faces. His accompanying press materials lightly play up his retro tendencies. He subsumes them so thoroughly into the musical architecture that it is never the song’s selling point. The inspiration he brings to the performance is notable. The EP’s penultimate number “Need” is Alice’s longest track. It runs almost four and a half minutes long, and the added time allows Drury a chance to develop his ideas on a larger canvas.
His imagination at play is a memorable listening experience. “Need” manifests in a variety of textures; imagining Drury pursuing a single line of attack is impossible. It’s undoubtedly moody fare but ultimately explores a range of emotions. The instrumental break beginning around the two minutes and forty seconds mark is one of the EP’s peak moments. The closer “Lost” strips back much of the instrumental adornments distinguishing the earlier tracks. Drury continues embracing an alt-pop pedigree, but “Lost” is in a ballad tradition and straightforward in ways the earlier material isn’t. It’s the last stylistic shift on a brief release brimming with unexpected turns and aches with the same emotion fueling its predecessors.
Trevor Drury’s story is far from finished. Alice (It’s All in Your Head) accomplishes more in a half dozen songs than other artists pull off in twelve tracks and opens Drury’s road ahead towards an increasingly bright future.
Colin Jordan
