You might recognise the name Travis Trevisan as the songwriter behind Nashville-based shoegaze project Tape Deck Mountain. Not happy confined to the single creative outlet, Trevisan releases music under his own name that fits into something closer to an ambient-folk category, utilising loops and layers to create organic soundscapes which sound at once spacious and alive.
For someone known for putting clever and cutting lyrics on top of huge sound, the project is definitely a departure from the Tape Deck Mountain aesthetic. And while TDM might seem the perfect vehicle for resistance in this hallucinatory post-election period, the album’s new sound was actually a direct result of the confusion and anger. “A week after the recent US election, I was numb and at a loss for words,” Trevisan says, “I took a break from the Facebook ranting and raving, and decided to hug it out for a moment with SLUG.”
We’re delighted to share a new track from the release, ‘The Arc’, a song built from innumerable layers of acoustic guitar and lo-fi ambient drone which coalesce into an almost viscous swirl. Words emerge from this foggy world, Trevisan’s hypnotic vocals hanging and floating, either suspended within the mist or else emanating from whatever lies beyond.