For PWR Magazine’s “Future” November 2022 issue, we spoke to rising Norwegian music artist Trevis Brendmoe about the vision, realisation and production behind his introductory EP Floor Plan. Inspired by a foregone relationship, and engineered in collaboration with Sons of Sonix, JV The Producer, JNS and Varren Wade.
“Floor plan is the best reflection of who I am as an artist in this moment and time. It’s the start, it’s the core, and the blueprint of my career” explains the musician. “When I was 16 years old, I moved to the United States on my own. I went to high school in Los Angeles, where most of the music I heard was Hip-Hop, Trap and R&B. I want listeners to feel the highs and lows that each song makes me feel since Floor Plan is based on a story about one girl and the situations we went through”.
PWR: To what extent do you believe Floor Plan to be a continuity of and/or progression from your foregone compositions?
TB: The music which I released previously, I was younger, I had completed high school and I was putting music out. The early days, were focused on experimenting and shaping my approach as an artist, in terms of what my sound was going to be. Covid turned out to be a blessing in that respect, because it gave me time to dive into music production and writing, two governing factors which were instrumental to me finding my ‘sound’ as an artist. All the songs on Floor Plan, I co-produced, I co-wrote and I recorded each track myself. The development of Floor Plan marks the introduction of me discovering my individual approach to music.
PWR: In your perspective, which tracks have acted as a guiding influence when you began to develop the contemporary work for the album?
TB: ‘Avenue’, is that record, especially on the music production side. It is a great bridge in terms of where I came from, as far as Norway, which is represented through the guitar sounds and melodies, and the past work I used to do. Floor Plan, is more grungey and Trap R’n’B, that’s why I feel “Avenue” is a perfect definition of who I am, where I came from and where I am now. Because I live in Los Angeles, and the music largely revolves around the two genres. Whereas in Norway, the styles revolve around Guitar, Indie and Indiana, those two combinations gave me “Avenue” and that’s what Floor Plan is as well, it’s Pop with a heavy interweaving of R’n’B.
PWR: To what degree do you see Floor Plan as having impacted your opinion of your foregone music and influenced your approach to your future work?
TB: Floor Plan is the perfect foundation for my future work. I feel like the way I wanted to sound and the way all the records came out, as far as the melodies, the song writing and the production unfolded. Signals a great starting point, which will influence the sounds of future projects and EPs’. You can hear that too, I give a small amount of different styles to each individual record. But Floor Plan has a cohesiveness that’s very R’n’B Pop and definitely the direction which I want to take my future compositions in. Speaking of the past, this EP, the songs on it are always what I had in mind and ones I always wanted to make. So I am happy that we were able to develop the six compositions and they are what they are today. I love the album, I am really proud of the work we did in it and the sounds which we created.
PWR: What core ideas did you aspire to bring-to-life using the EP?
TB: Whenever I make music, especially when I write the compositions, they are inspired by events which I have experienced, but in a more freeing sense where I am not so stressed out. Everything I do today is music, it defines my career, I travel for music, I am always busy 24/7 doing music. And the guy who is represented in the songs, he has a lot more time on his hands to be 20, be 22 and experience moments which are definitive of his age. The person I am, 9/10 times I work really hard and have 17 hour days, doing all these things, I wouldn’t change any of it. But I would say the character in these songs he is a little more free, and doing everything a 20 year old would want to do - meeting girls, going out and travelling. At its core the EP is this character brought to life, all the compositions are about the different stages of his relationship with a girl”. Introducing the album “All Night” realised in collaboration with Sons of Sonix conjures images of city night drive with his love interest, the seductive melody bringing it to life. The track is followed by his signature composition “Company For Now”, co-produced by JV The Producer, JNS and inspired by a confident woman who approaches him. Distinctively “Avenue”, introduces itself as significantly influenced by the Indie genre and interwoven with strains of Pop. The track charts the navigational point of his relationship, in addition to highlighting Trevis’ multi-dimensionality as a singer. Journeying further into the unpredictability of his relationship “We Should Think It Over” backed by an acoustic production, explores his insecurities, and the penultimate composition “Sleep Sound” signals a realisation of emotion. Ultimately “Let Me Know” engineered by channelling 4am night-club energy into his work concludes the EP on a freeing note.
PWR: Which artists have energetically influenced your approach to your work?
TB: One of the biggest influences, since my childhood, has been Chris Brown. I love everything he does as an artist, he’s been in the industry for so long. I heard that he has five or six thousand songs on his phone which remain unreleased, for me that shows a true passion in his artistry. I always reference Ty Dolla $ign too, I love Jeremih, there are a lot of artists out there who I look up to.
PWR: What inspired you to channel your work into an EP?
TB: It was interesting because at first we were like, Do we do singles ? Do we put a song out every month ? Do we do an album ? At the beginning of this year, we had so much music which I have worked on during the last two years, especially during COVID. We really wanted to, once we chose a few records which we were looking to put out, package it in, because each track has a cohesive storyline behind it. We started with three singles, one every month and when it came to the fourth, sixth record, the idea to wrap it into an EP looked like the out-and-out way to share the music.
PWR: What do you believe music should be definitive of?
TB: Fun. My manager is Nigerian and a lot of people I work with are from Nigeria and I listen to Afrobeats a lot. I feel like that sound is the perfect definition of what music should be, it’s always fun, it’s always got rhythm, and incredible melodies. I love that, I always want to try and let it influence my work, to me music is all about positivity and fun, to me music is the best part of life.
Words & Interview by: Sabrina Roman