sweet trip

we caught up with sweet trip for an intimate interview

question: We are loving your new album ‘A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals.’ Can you tell us a little about the backstory of that album? When was it written and recorded?
answer: ‘A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals.’ wasn’t anything planned, it just sort of happened. We had been disconnected and sort of estranged for several years, and when we got back together, we realized we missed each other a lot, musically and personally. After reconnecting, the energy and magnetism between us came to life, as if no time had passed, and the excitement of it all fueled our desire of making music together again, and that’s how we ended up with this record. ‘A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals.’ was mostly written and recorded between late 2019 and late 2020, basically during the most uncertain period of the pandemic, with a couple of exceptions: “In Sound, We Found Each Other” was originally written around the time that our previous record, ‘You Will Never Know Why’ came out, and the track “Polar Equals” was originally written sometime between 2013 and 2018.

question: What was the most fun song to work on from the new album? How many songs did you write as potential songs for the album that did not end up making the final cut?
answer: It’s hard to pick which song was more fun. The whole experience of being locked in a room for hours recording and goofing off is always so endearing to us, and we do not take any of it for granted. Every moment we spend working on a song is very special to us. If I remember correctly, there were about 20 potential songs to choose from. Since the theme and the core of the record is all about love, romance, and passion, the record being a literal love letter, some of the songs that did not fit that message did not make it into the record.

question: What’s it like creating music together for over two decades? What have been the biggest hurdles to get over since your last album?
answer: Creating music together for decades is a dream come true. For me, I have never been more connected and on the same musical wavelength with anyone else other than Valerie, so even though we have been doing music together for so long, it is always, always, a really special and magical experience. Honestly, I don’t think there are many significant hurdles to speak of, maybe other than technical ones, like gear failure, or time management because we both are lazy and goof off too much – but that’s why it is so much fun for us, no pressure, easy peasy, as Valerie says.

question: What is your favorite song from your new album? Do the lyrics or the instrumentals come first when you’re writing and recording?
answer: My favorite track is “The Weight of Comfort, This Rain is Comfort, This Rain is You”, “Polar Equals” is Valerie’s. When the lyrics are written it is on a per-song basis. Parts of lyrics may be jotted down and may inspire music of some sort, or music may inspire lyrics of some sort. On occasions, lyrics may be written towards the very end of a recording session. It all depends.

question: Where do you live and what’s the music scene like there? Do you have an ultimate goal for Sweet Trip?
answer: We are all over the place at the moment, not very stable, but we’ve been a Bay Area band for many years. We find that the Bay Area scene is very diverse and very welcoming. As for ultimate goals, well, we would love to keep making music as long as we are allowed to. We would like to play shows and tour because we miss that.