Sometimes, before I go to bed, I let the fates decide on a soundtrack. Local gods did me right by shuffling Trent Liptak into the mix. I stared wide-eyed at my ceiling tiles to the sleepless lullaby that is the album “An Appeal to Cats in the Business Love.”
The self-dubbed Baroque Folk spoke to my midwest sensibilities as well as the part of a person that understands poetry. As of the past two weeks it’s become my self-sworn responsibility to put everyone on.
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Hailing from eastern Pennsylvania, Trent Liptak writes and produces music on his laptop. He tells me he has been writing music ever since receiving his first guitar at thirteen.
“When I was really little I liked Oasis…I would write these songs that were like Oasis songs and I would sing in this weird cockney accent.”
Although he now speaks on his Oasis tribute career regrettably, it served as a catalyst.
“I need to get a rug that is the union jack flag and I need to get a guitar…”
Since then, Trent Liptak’s music has flown a very different trajectory. Playing guitar, bass, drums and piano himself, it’s arguably indie and even a touch of orchestral. His discography is eclectic and experimental—a blend of inspirations from artists like Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes and Attic Abasement. Growing up in Pennsylvania has also had its hand.
“Country music is played so often that you kind of have to learn to like it.”
Empathetic to a fellow English major’s plight, or perhaps just as excited as I,
in our interview Trent bestowed upon me 21st century treasure: his next release, “Catching Tigers in Red Weather.”
The album title is taken from Wallace Stevens’ poem “Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock” and chronicles how it feels to fall asleep. Trent’s affinity for poetry has bled into much of his art—“An Appeal to Cats in the Business of Love” coming from a Thomas Flatman poem.
Like previous works, Trent’s third album encompasses soulful storytelling, but the sound has become more developed with both Trent’s greater knowledge of production as well as the help from other creatives such as Sena Sitawi who is featured on violin.
“I think I’ve always been way more interested in the production of it than I have in the writing…
I usually go into a song with an idea for what it sounds like and I usually figure out what I want the lyrics to be afterwards.”
The first track of the album opens with faraway wind chimes and a reading of the poetry it is inspired by before plunging into a dreamy instrumental. It sets a sort of melancholic tone, but with a much more expansive sound than we’ve previously heard, layering violin and live percussion in place of digital drums.
This track is followed by the wistful single, “Chèrie.” In proper poetic fashion, the seemingly-love-song describes an intense longing for another to an extent that borders concerning with the line “and if I start screaming I promise it’s nothing” cleverly embedded. It serves as a reminder that nothing is how it seems.
The third song, my personal favorite, illustrates a story about the figure Lucy. The macabre writing appears here as well, Trent repeating “without you I’m no one,” urging Lucy to stay. The succeeding tracks lighten, the reality of the situation lifting.
The songs follow a clear progression from the living world into the dreamscape. It invites the listener to explore their nostalgia, their hopes and even fears as the room around them slowly slips away. At some points it’s heartwarming and safe, at others, it becomes fantastical and absurd, your preconceptions distorted as if you are Alice eating that discarded cake.
Trent’s imagination is intoxicating and it’s just the beginning.
The album “Catching Tigers in Red Weather” is set to be released on February 21st.
Go listen to your new favorite artist,
Trent Liptak.
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