INTERVIEW: Trauna's Liz Freel on debut single 'Feel a Little': "I wanted the song to take you to a place where you are accepting of your core self and unapologetically human."
Indiepop duo Trauna - made up of singer Liz Freel and Connor Robertson - were formed in a basement in Grand Rapids Michigan and at the end of October released their debut single ‘Feel a Little’.
A dreamy, hypnotic indie track that brings to mind the best of 1960s and 1970s psychedelic pop, it is all held together by Freel’s remarkably mature voice, full of deep soulful warmth with a disarming nonchalant vibe which is never more appropriate as she croons ‘Cause what is real? / It is all or is it just some illusion?’
With the duo at work on their next single, and a EP hopefully coming next year, Trauna are an act to keep a close watch on over the next 12 months as their debut effort promises great things to come. We recently caught up with Liz to find out all about Trauna.
Hey Liz! Great to chat with you! How has life been for you throughout the craziness that has been 2020?
Hi! There’s been rough times, much needed windows of peace, and bursts of energy throughout my 2020. While not trying to undermine the severity and seriousness of the pandemic, I was privileged to be able to lay low for the first time in a long time. Connor and I got to really focus on whipping up some solid, studio-ready demos. Oddly enough, 2020 has brought me a ton of hope and excitement for what’s to come.
Congratulations on the release of the single ‘Feel A Little’ it is amazing! You have said the song is inspired by how we can feel punished by not living up to the norms society pressures us to conform to. Can you talk us a little bit more through this inspiration for the song?
Thank you very much! I think I crammed a lot of meaning into one song, but it does come full circle. When I wrote this song, I happened to be in quite the funk – no energy, indifferent to everything, numb, a classic depressed state. I also have a lovely case of ADHD and crave stimulation and excitement at all times. The song is kind of a letter to my depressed self and anyone struggling with hopelessness/depression, reminding us to check the way we’re talking to ourselves. I wanted to bring up the practice of inner child work where you imagine you’re sitting down with yourself as a small child. I hope that you would give them love and support. You don’t need to have everything figured out. Our society’s standards are outdated and beyond unnatural. I wanted the song to take you to a place where you are happy, dancing, accepting of your core self and unapologetically human.
It is unfortunately a common curse - we often feel we cannot be simply who we are, or feel we have to be a certain way to be viewed as ‘normal’ by society - when most of those pressures are self-imposed. What do you think is the way to break free of this cycle?
I am no expert, just a psychology major that wishes everyone could see how powerful and deserving of love they are. The scary thing about society is that it makes those that don’t meet its standards feel as though they are undeserving of respect or love or recognition on the social playing field. Self-loathing could be rooted in many things: these norms, family pressure, the way you were raised, et cetera. Learning that our current society of binary systems was formed to keep a very specific type of person in power only encouraged me to be more shameless of who I am. Do some research on the binary systems that are everywhere you look. Imagine you are talking to yourself as a kid – that innocent, core version of yourself. Listen to them! Tell them it’s okay to love who they love, wear whatever they want to wear, embrace their masculinity or femininity or androgyny, and go after what lights their fire.
You have said that ‘Be My Baby’ was a sonic inspiration for the track. What else fed into the making of the track?
I was talking with a music mentor of mine while Connor and I were working on the ‘Feel a Little’ demo, and he said that the song reminded him a lot of Saint Etienne’s ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ which immediately turned into one of my favourite songs, and naturally ended up influencing later revisions to the song. We added a similar 1960s guitar rhythm. I love the song ‘Boyish’ by Japanese Breakfast, which also starts with the ‘Be My Baby’ drum pattern.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the creative process behind the song?
I began writing the song (the chord progression and lyrics) well over a year ago. I remember pulling up the mellotron flutes on my computer and just messing around. The song kind of started to write its own lyrics. The first words that came to mind were ‘I will feel’, and I pretty quickly had an idea of the message I wanted the song to send. It wasn’t until about a year later that I decided to show Connor the song and we’d start making a full demo of it. We waited until the Covid situation wasn’t as daunting and lockdowns were lifted before taking it to Jake Rye’s Social Recording Company to finally be recorded. It was a two-day process, and my first time having my music professionally recorded. I have intense performance anxiety, so I was super nervous and even had Connor leave the room while I sang. When we go to the studio, Connor puts down all of the live instrumentals – he is incredibly talented. Jake added in the strings and his engineering/mixing really turned the song into something anthemic and huge.
What is the backstory of Trauna - how did it all come together?
One of the things that Connor and I bonded over when we first started dating was our passion for music. He’s been in an awesome band called Leland Blue for a few years and has a ton of musical experience under his belt. We always talked about working on music together, but as soon as we actually started to craft up songs, we realized that it could be something really cool. Growing up, my mom called me ‘Traunabalana’ for reasons unknown, but Connor and I decided that it sounded like a cool band name and it stuck!
Going back to the beginning for you, what are your first memories of music?
My dad didn’t pursue a career in music, but he was a music composition major in college. The man can absolutely shred. My earliest memories of music go back to my dad playing the most difficult, beautiful Chopin etudes on our piano. Or him ripping guitar solos so loudly that I swore we were going to get a noise complaint from the neighbours. One of my favourite things to do as a kid was go through my parents’ infinite collection of songs in our desktop’s MP3 folder. I would just scroll through and one by one click on every song looking for music that I liked. I loved to crank the speakers and run around and dance, and it takes me by no surprise that I want every song I write to be a song you can dance to. It’s therapy!
Who are your musical inspirations, both from when you were growing up and also today as a recording artist yourself?
I grew up listening to just about everything. I loved the classical greats like Chopin, Mozart, and Bach. I loved punk rock bands like the Pixies, Foo Fighters, the White Stripes, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Muse, etc. A lot of classic rock like the Talking Heads, the Clash, Pink Floyd, Blondie, and David Bowie. My mom always threw some really cool bands in the mix like the Brazilian Girls, the Gypsy Kings, Moby, and Pink Martini. The number of artists I love and am inspired by is too high to count. Now that I am writing my own music, I feel like I have this mission to give people music that they can really groove to. I think dancing and letting loose is so important. I also have a drive to make music that is of its own kind and has interesting melodies. I find that a lot of my vocal or key melodies are influenced by the classical music in the deepest roots of my memory.
The music industry has long been a difficult space for women to exist in, partly because it has been run for so long by older, white, straight men. What are your thoughts on gender equality and sexism in the music industry?
I have yet to experience blatant sexism in the industry, as this project is so new and is my first big project to release to the world and industry. However, I’ve noticed that the music scene is predominantly run by boybands. I think it’s devastating that women are hushed and stepped on in the industry, as it crushes such a powerful and immense source of creativity. This just makes me more determined to get out there and let people know that I’m here.
2020 has been a car crash of a year. In amongst the fires, the pandemic, police brutality, racism…what do you think have been the nuggets of gold to come from this year of disaster?
I would hope that the fires are changing some minds about the existence of climate change. I would hope that the pandemic is a flaming red sign that healthcare should be a right, that lives are more important than financial profit, and that we should at least do the bare minimum in caring about the people around us. From the police brutality/Black Lives Matter Protests, I would hope that we are realising that racism is so embedded in our country’s foundations and systems that major reform/overturning is necessary. I think 2020 has been a year of awakening almost. We are realising that our current system divides us, benefits very few, and profits off of us being unwell. I feel as though we are waking up from being lulled and exploited.
What’s up next for Trauna?
We have our second single in the mixing process right now! That song will be released within the next month or two. Our plan is to get a third single out before working on and releasing an EP!
‘Feel a Little’ is out now via Scuba Records. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music and Spotify.
To keep up with all things Trauna you can follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
