New Zealand based drum & bass producer Trei has been steadily building a name for himself both at home and abroad over the last few years, cutting his teeth on a number of well received 12"s for an array of respected labels including Samurai Music, Commercial Suicide, Critical and Shogun offshoot label SGN:LTD. Now he is set to release his debut solo LP, 'Innuendo', on Wellington label Samurai music, which will also be the first full length solo effort for the label, following on from their compilation 'Way Of The Samurai' which was released in May of this year.

Trei is keen to extol the merits of the drum & bass scene in New Zealand of which he is a product: 'I think there is a lot of support and enthusiasm here which nurtures the success of a lot of NZ producers and DJs.'

Indeed, he cites a large number of New Zealand based drum & bass producers that he is feeling at the moment: 'State of Mind, The Upbeats, Dose, Cern, Teknik, Bulletproof, Concord Dawn, Agent Alvin are always pumping out seriously good tunes, and new guys like Luca, Tokyo Prose are also finding their niche which is awesome to see.'

Having proven his production credentials across his previous 12"s, Trei decided that he wanted a bigger platform on which he could explore his skills: 'I got to a point that I felt like I needed a broader 'vehicle' to showcase my music. I'd been thinking about the idea of working towards an album, at which point Geoff Presha approached me about releasing an album with Samurai Music and it all started falling in to place from there really.'

However, he is the first to admit how large an undertaking working on the album was: 'It's a much bigger animal than I had envisaged to be honest. I think you have to look more at the big picture and overall sound of the album. I really wanted to represent a broad spectrum to keep it interesting while still maintaining a musical flow.' A balancing act that he has managed to pull off effortlessly.

The body of work that has come to fruition out of this project should go some way to sonically articulating Trei in a more inclusive way, exploring more of his musical palette. 'I wanted to release a body of work that represents where I have come from musically as well as where I'm going, so it covers the past couple of years, has elements of my influences and involves people that I love working with and have a lot of respect for.'

The album is an even more wide-spanning, confident and accomplished piece of music than we have heard from Trei before: 'Perhaps earlier on it was more about progression and experimenting with the sound and the science, whereas now I think I've learnt a lot more technically and have more confidence to let the music do the talking, so to speak.'

The album sees him balance out the raw and the dark sonics, with which he is perhaps more associated, with the more polished, melodic and uplifting, to create a record which is more adaptable. It retains the crisps beats and pounding bassweight which make it prime dancefloor fodder, while containing the depth, atmosphere and hooks to make it transferable to home listening.

The album title, 'Innuendo', succinctly encapsulates the album's musical manifesto. Trei brings a large amount of different influences to the table ('anything from Michael Jackson to Deftones, N.E.R.D. to Tool, The Beatles to Faith No More, etc.'), but does not wear them on his sleeve, instead weaving them in to an entirely new and futuristic sonic landscape in which they each play a part. As Trei explains of the album title, 'Innuendo means to suggest, and to me music represents suggestion in the sense that it is not necessarily a directive of emotion; more the suggestion of it. i.e. it is open to interpretation to the listener in the own way.'

With the album project just out, Trei has no intention of resting on his laurels. He has a forthcoming release on Concord Dawn's Uprising Records ('Mindless' / 'Hotfoot' with Dose) as well as 'Only One' coming on Marky's Innerground label. Furthermore, 'I'm also really looking forward to getting stuck into some new music as well as finishing off a few collaborations,' he enthuses. So look out from plenty more to come from Trei.

You can grab a mix Trei has done for DOA here

 

Words Sam Collenette

 

 

 

• Trei

Related Links:

• Guest Mix: Samurai Music
• Samurai To Release Calibre EP
• Dose Interview
• Tokyo Prose Interview
• Soul Intent - Be Strong Video

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