Trails and Ways of Oakland, California have raised the bar for dreamy electro-pop with their debut EP, Trilingual. With sassy bossa nova beats and a penchant for catchy hooks, their fresh sound makes for a warm summer soundtrack. Performing in a mix of English, Spanish, and Portuguese, the band takes cues from Oakland’s rich diversity and melds it with the flashier house trends coming out of Berkeley.
Equal parts dance-y and chill, Trails and Ways highlight the backbones of the genres they incorporate into their sound—groovy Latin beats, airy synths, and clean surf guitar tones. Ahead of their upcoming show at The Frequency on Monday, Keith Brower Brown answered a few questions for us.
Your social media accounts make a specific effort to press the fact that “everyone sings,” a structure that doesn’t seem to be employed by many modern bands. How do you feel this affects the band’s image, dynamic, and sound?
“Worked for The Beatles, good enough for us. We all sing lead and we all sing backup for each other. There are obviously a lot of terrific bands out there with a single focal point singer, but I am way more allured by the possibility of this band where all four of us hold space for each other to unleash our full voice—simultaneous compounding explosions of creative capacity.”
How does your performance of songs in multiple languages affect your crowds and fanbase?
“Apparently a lot of Spanish/Portuguese speakers are very forgiving of our shady accents and grammar, because I’ve met a good number of folks from Brazil and other Latin American countries at our shows.”
You describe your genre as “cooperative house.” How exactly would you define this term?
“I’d define it as an iffy joke. We try to run our band as a cooperative. We met in the cooperative houses at Berkeley. We make dance music, sometimes with drops and 808s like house but obviously also with guitars and live drums. When I met the drummer (Ian Quirk), I was DJing house music and so that’s part of where we come from.”
What is your typical songwriting process like? Who would you name as your strongest influences both musically and lyrically?
“The best songs mostly start in the Sierra Nevada or after surfing. We all write songs. Generally one of us starts with chord structure, words, and rough arrangement on guitar, keyboard, or in the computer. Hannah (Van Loon), Emma (Oppen), and I generally workshop ideas together over a month or two on guitars, bass, and synth. We write most of the vocal backups and the non-rhythm parts in the recording process. …
“[It] depends on the week, but Jorge Ben, Drake, and Broadcast have been pretty huge [influences] for all of us.”
What do you want your audience to take away from your music?
“Tired legs, a stronger core, and more belief that a more beautiful and just world is possible.”