The artwork for Crown Shyness
Have you got a favourite song on the record?
Shade is huge – It’s the most eclectic and hard-hitting song on the album. But the two real stand-outs for me are Old Soul and Love Hate React Relate, which is the song about my dog. I took influence from Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing when writing that one. There’s a paragraph in the book where she’s going over her attempts to quantify her emotions while going through something traumatic, and the way she describes her thought process and how she ritualistically goes through the same feelings is beautiful. I took that paragraph, restructured it so it rhymed and directly quoted the last eight words, which are “Joy, peace, guilt, release. Love, hate, react, relate.” Those words struck me so much when I first read them.
Has literature always been an influence on Trash Boat?
Yes, but more so on Crown Shyness. I put my heart and soul into Nothing I Write You…, but the reaction we got to that album inspired more creative energy from me this time around. I read a lot of William Butler Yeates’ poetry, I love Margaret Atwood’s books and I’m a massive Emily Brontë fan, too. All of those influences shaped what came out on the record.
What about other lyricists who were an influence on Crown Shyness?
Lyrically, I really like Turnstile now, as well as Movements, Can’t Swim, Hot Mulligan and La Dispute. Also, Pat Flynn from Have Heart is one of the best lyricists ever, and John Floreani from Trophy Eyes is sick. I love all those guys.
What do you hope fans take away from the new album?
I’m not sure. I don’t see myself as some who preaches anything, and I don’t want anyone to take anything specific away from my music – only I can do that. A lot of what I write is helpful to me and speaks to how I think I should act and how I structure my thinking. If people hear this and relate to it, that’s great. But I’m just being me. If people love it, that’s awesome, and if they hate it, they don’t have to waste their time with it.
Words: @JakeRichardso17
Crown Shyness is out July 20 through Hopeless Records
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