The music of Trevor Sloan is nothing short of purifying. The multidisciplinary Toronto-based artist excels at penning vivid interpretations of nature, love, loss, and renewal. His folk-pop instrumentation and gentle descriptiveness—reminiscent of artists like Sufjan Stevens—swell with warmth, lifting you to a plane of uncanny familiarity.

On Sloan’s latest self-released album, A Room by the Green Sea, the simple beauty of summer vacations gone by unlocks so much more. Sloan teleports between country fairs and shifting waters, backed by layered acoustics, subtle drum patterns, and field recordings. From the precise memories of “Praying Mantis” to the sober admissions of “Blade on My Face,” A Room by the Green Sea is the embodiment of what you’d hope to hear by picking up a conch shell. It’s the creamy cable-knit jumper that you slip into as the sun kisses you goodbye.

Leading up to today’s release of A Room by the Green Sea, Sloan jumped on a call with Also Cool to detail his latest artistic chapter. We caught up on his poetic inspirations, his adventures out West, and much more.

Rebecca Judd for Also Cool Mag: With [A Room by the Green Sea], you mention that it was inspired by some recent summer travels. Mayne Island – that’s a different one, I’ve never heard of that part of BC before. Can you tell me what it is that brought you out there – what it is you got up to and how that impacted your creative process?

Trevor Sloan: My wife’s family actually lives there, so I’ve been going there for many years. It’s almost like a second home, in a sense. [We’ve gone there for] the last two summers – it’s a beautiful little island, the ocean, the forests. We went to the beach a lot, did some hiking...

We also did a little road trip of Vancouver Island and went to another place called Qualicum Beach, and then Comox, Courtenay, Cumberland… we did this whole tour of swimming, [checking out the] different beaches because we love to do that.

When you’re on Mayne Island, the ocean is just always there. The boats going by, you’re swimming or seeing the waves coming in. I wrote some of the songs there when I was staying there; “Salty Ocean,” for example, and “Island Girl.” And the title A Room by the Green Sea is a room in [my wife’s family home], it overlooks the ocean. Just the feeling of being there and having these memories…

Also Cool: That’s cool that it’s a connection with your wife’s family as well, because it’s a whole different perspective on the notion of family and connectivity to a place. “Ottawa 1977,” [a previous single], that story is related to your family, but Mayne Island must feel familiar yet different.

In our previous interview (written by Valerie Boucher), you shared that you like to craft characters and immerse yourself in their worlds of these characters – different objects, different settings, different things that you observe. There are a lot of new stories in A Room by the Green Sea: there’s the brokenhearted diarist in “Sweet Lady Jo,” there are teens playing tetherball. How did these new personalities reveal themselves in this chapter? Do they manifest naturally? Do they ever cross over different timelines?

Trevor: I feel like this album is a bit more personal, and maybe there are less characters. It’s more so based on my life and things that I’ve experienced. That being said, even when I’m writing about something that’s happened in my life, it’s still a mix of memory and imagination. Like, I become a character in the story – it’s not necessarily autobiographical.

“Lady Sweet Jo” is an interesting one, because that’s a character – that’s a female poet. The story behind that one is I was reading some poems by Den Sute-jo, but I misread it as “Lady Sweet Jo” because in the book it was written as “Lady Sute-jo.” I thought, “That’s the coolest name, Lady Sute-jo.” The inspiration also came from reading a Chinese poet by the name of Chu Shu Chen, and she writes this very heartbroken and bitter verse. So I came up with this character that was loosely based on these two poets.

AC: All it takes is a little seed. I love the idea of it being a productive misread.

TS: I now have reading glasses, but before then I didn’t… I wouldn’t make that same mistake now, but it was a blessing in disguise.

AC: I’m interested in the stories that don’t make the cut. Are there things where someone or something presents itself as an inspiration, but it doesn’t feel right? Or if [a character or object] is associated with this particular setting or time in your life, does it feel like you need to get those things out on the paper at the same time?

TS: Generally, I will record 20-30 songs and then I pick the best 10. Sometimes songs and characters get cut because I just want to pick the best.

AC: Your music has this delicate and nostalgic quality to it where it feels like a memory in its softness and descriptiveness. But its production is [quite] sharp and meticulous—you work really hard at crafting this vibe that is quite comfortable—so I feel like calling your music “nostalgic” might be a bit reductive when it is so detailed. I’m interested in knowing the ways you may have experimented or tried to do something different with your sound on this new album.

TS: I really appreciate you saying these things, and the concept of not wanting to call it just “nostalgia.” That’s a word that gets thrown around with my music a lot. I do feel like I try to keep things interesting and modern, I’m constantly discovering and listening to new music. I’m very much inspired by the 60s and 70s but I’m also inspired by new artists. I want my music to sound “of its time” – it’s not just a rehash of [those decades].

In terms of experimentation: in the last interview I did with Also Cool, I talked about my defective [Roland Juno-106] keyboard, and that’s now fixed! [laughs] I was able to use it more, and it was an enjoyable experience. The Juno is an analog keyboard from the 80s. There’s a particular sound on it that has a 70s lounge vibe to it, and I used that on a few tracks, so that’s a thread throughout the album.

I also used more electronic-sounding drums on a couple of the tracks, like “Praying Mantis” and “Island Girl.” That was a new thing for me.

And the sounds of nature…I use water sounds—waves, rivers—and the crackling of a fire.

AC: [Those choices] lend themselves well to what it was you were trying to capture. I love it when musicians take advantage of what it is that’s around them and use that to enhance a story.

You collaborated with Andy Magoffin, who mixed and mastered some of this album. What was it like to [work] with him again?

TS: Andy’s awesome. I love working with him. I’ve worked with him on maybe eight albums, and so we’re very much in sync now. I can give [my music] to him and let him do the mixing and mastering – there’s always a bit of back-and-forth, but it’s been so long that he just knows what I like and he makes it happen. I really appreciate what he does, because he brings a brightness and a spaciousness to the sound so it all sounds like it’s in a room with the instruments coming from different places.

He also played horns on “Don’t Waste Your Time” and “Lady Sweet Jo.” That was a new thing [for me] – I would love to have more instruments on my records, but I don’t know a lot of people. [laughs] It was nice to have that extra touch.

AC: I took particular interest in “Don’t Waste Your Time.” Going back to common themes in your music, I found that that track really spoke to me as I read the lyrics. It takes a certain turn where it feels like it’s focusing on how to forget more than how to remember. That stood out relative to the rest of the album. Where does that track fit into the album’s narrative, and how did it come to be?

TS: [Many of my] songs can be introspective and concerned with little details, but I would say that [Don’t Waste Your Time] is a bit more universal. It’s about a heartbreak from youth, and how heartbreak changes over time. As time goes by, as you get older, you start to look at it differently and maybe it loses some of the pain that was associated with it. You get to a point as you get older when you can smile at it.

It’s also giving advice – “if you can’t tell what’s on their mind / don’t waste your time.” You’re better off being with people that make you feel good, people who you know where you stand in their eyes.

AC: It’s nice to have that balance of [universality], amidst songs that concern themselves with putting one in the shoes of a character or the emotions of a particular place. For people who want something that presents itself in a different way, it’s definitely powerful to connect the escapism with something more relatable.

For the cover for A Room by the Green Sea, [you’ve added] some unique shapes to it. I want to say one of them is a scythe…? Even just the [muted] colourways. I’d love to ask more about the album art and how you created that collage.

TS: I created maybe four or five collages, and they’re all in the same vein. I wanted something more abstract [for this album], and mysterious. A lot of the collages that I was doing, there were these “ghostly figures.” When you mention the scythe, there’s this green thing that looks like the top of a ghost.

My source material was different paintings from the 1700s, and I cut them up and rearranged them. I wanted the green to be very prevalent. When I collage, I just start cutting and see where it all comes together.

AC: What are your upcoming plans for the release of A Room by the Green Sea?

TS: The most exciting thing is I decided to get vinyl done for this record. This doesn’t make any sense in some respects, but I’ve always wanted to do vinyl and have the physical thing in my hands!

Vinyl Giveaway

To celebrate its release, we’re giving away one vinyl copy of A Room by the Green Sea! Enter today for your chance to win this mesmerizing new album.

To enter the giveaway:

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Terms and Conditions:

The giveaway closes on September 9th, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET. You must reside in Canada to participate in the giveaway. The winner will be selected at random, announced, and contacted via DM on September 10th, 2024. Should the winner fail to respond within 24 hours of being notified, another winner will be selected. The winner of this giveaway will receive one vinyl copy of A Room by the Green Sea shipped at no extra cost; please note that any damages incurred while in transit are no fault of Also Cool or Trevor Sloan. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

A Room by the Green Sea

out September 6th, 2024