Trevor Drury’s Alice (It’s All in Your Head) leaves a lasting and distinctive mark.
I say that despite the EP’s recent release. Time does not yet bear out my statement. However, I expect it will. The longtime San Diego resident Drury, currently attending Boston’s famed Berklee College of Music, already has a firm grasp on his artistry that many veteran composers/musicians might envy. His six songs for Alice careen all over the stylistic map, never allowing listeners to pin them down long in any specific genre and proving themselves capable of wearing different faces for their audience. The self-assurance spanning such shifts is impressive and never slackens.
WEBSITE: https://www.officialtrevordrury.com/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/trevordrurymusic/
It isn’t change for the sake of change. “Alice (Wonderland Mix)” changes gears in such a way that diversifies the song’s color and deepens its impact on listeners. The opener strikes an aggressive stance with listeners. Much of “Alice” relentlessly, remorselessly batters listeners throughout the majority of verses. It is only broken up by the aforementioned scattered respites broadening the performance. It’s an opening that left me wondering what I had gotten myself into.
“Like a Stone” did nothing to clarify what I was dealing with. It is a virtually 180-degree stylistic turn from the jagged edges and bug-eyed lunacy of “Alice”, but the essential character underpinning the songwriting remains the same. Drury has developed a strong artistic identity for someone so young. This is far more polished than its predecessor, but they are equally impressive. “Leviathan” goes a step further. The dazzling construction holds together a delightfully schizophrenic track that upends any expectations I had going in. It has darker overtones than its surrounding material but never exerts a gloomy hold over listeners.
“Teenage Daydream” proves his credentials as a musical chameleon. He emphasizes melody much more during this performance, building it around piano playing, and the driving musical figure has a muscular quality you cannot ignore. I hear something ebullient, even celebratory in this song, but it has layers likely to open themselves up for audiences after repeated listens. “Need” benefits from a network of strengths, but superb construction immediately stands out. Drury unfolds the EP’s penultimate track piece by piece and achieves incremental effects that the earlier material never enjoyed. It isn’t a song that shows its whole hand at once. It’s the longest song included on Alice, so the increased canvas size allows Drury to delineate his vision at a different pace.
“Lost” strips away virtually every artifice. We’re left with Drury’s voice, piano, and a judicious and never constant classical accompaniment. He scales those contributions back, and the attentiveness he shows towards not upsetting the compositional balance is a crucial factor for the song. His singing is awash in plaintive feeling, raw rather than performative, and helps finish Alice on a memorable emotional note. It’s a thoroughly engaging release, and not a single track comes across as filler. Drury’s swung for the fences with this short collection, and Alice (It’s All in Your Head) is a grand slam.
Garth Thomas