Mike Trask is always out to school us on what we perceive as “Maximum Traskiness.” Give him a couple of years and he’ll tweak the formula that turns avant-garde weird into something more polished. Is it the raw and unfettered Trask that is the purest form of himself, or the refined product? With his newest single, “The Painter,” Trask invites us further into his ever-evolving headspace, decidedly still very Trask but it’s clear he’s dusted for the occasion.
“The Painter” is the first single from Mike Trask’s upcoming, self-produced, album, TV Dinner. Trask takes the opportunity of the song to become both subject and artist as he paints a picture for us in which a painter paints a picture for us. Trask continually compliments the artist on their ability to capture the light while he, in turn, succumbs to the darkness. Naturally, the song is deeply meta and questions the value of life as art and art as life.
“The Painter” also highlights just how terribly awkward it can be watching over the shoulder of a live painter. Let this stand as a public service advisory that it is not socially acceptable to pester the artist to paint you into the painting, especially if you’re tripping balls at a festival.
Layering dreamy synths on a deep bass groove, “The Painter,” along with much of TV Dinner, puts an emphasis on instrumentation, much of which he performs entirely by himself. Trask explains it’s the result of having spent much of that last five years producing other musicians at his all-analog recording studio, Memramcook Recording Company. Working on the experimental foundation of his 2017 album Fantasy Man, Trask continues to explore that pastiche of psychedelia, but now with more refinement.
Show Dates:
02.01.20 – Fredericton, NB @ Shivering Songs – Wilser’s Room