It is important to raise questions. Some raise the questions internally, finding resolve within themselves, while others find comfort in opening up dialogue, provoking thought in a larger sum of people. Trish Hosein, known as TRISHES, is one who feeds off the friction. Not controversial just for of sake of being so, TRISHES simply thrives artistically when tackling societal and humanity issues head on in her music.
Exceptionally talented at stringing words with meaning together, TRISHES music is a unique blend of styles that derives influence from Hip Hop as well as Pop. Also a artist, master of spoken words and visuality, TRISHES has a design to her work and it all starts with her debut EP EGO.
The first of what will be a series of music collections released, EGO makes it way to the mainstream on March 1st, and taking the time to chat about it all, TRISHES broke down some artistic concepts near and dear to her heart.
Cryptic Rock – As an artist, you have a very thoughtful approach to music. First, briefly tell us, what inspired your artistic direction?
TRISHES – I faced a lot of internal struggle and in my early twenties as I grappled with the idea of morality, it’s origins, and it’s existence outside of a higher power. I felt like I had two different parts of me that were often at odds and that caused a lot of pain. I created TRISHES to help express these “selves” within myself. The vocal effects and loops give them a voice in real space and not just in my head.
My first EP EGO is named after what Freud labeled the conscious self. “The Id” or the primal self, and “Superego” the spiritual self, will follow.
Cryptic Rock – Quite interesting. As alluded to, you choose your music as a form of communicating a message. This sometimes can alienate some people, but those with an open mind, will listen. How do you find, collectively, people react to your music?
TRISHES – I think people love it or hate it, and I appreciate art that is divisive like that. I think as long as I’m stirring people in some way I feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Cryptic Rock – Right, you want to make someone feel something. Outside the music’s message, your sound is a diverse mix of Hip Hop, Pop, among other styles. Would you say that this approach is ever evolving for you?
TRISHES – For me, each of the selves – primal, conscious and spiritual – have a different sound. The primal self is really minimalist, rhythm based and sometimes accompanied by this lower voice or this kind of warped alien voice, so my next album, The Id, will be more minimalist and rhythm focused than EGO.
I haven’t started working on “Superego” yet, but I’ve been expressing the higher self with a lot of layers and harmonies, so I imagine that album will be sonically lavish and the chordal structures will be more elaborate. EGO plays around between both of these. I think “Saraswati” is a good representation of that with the sparse rhythmic verses and the more layered harmonically based chorus.
Cryptic Rock – It all sounds very exciting.You are set to release your aforementioned debut EP, EGO, tomorrow. You have already released tracks such as the thought-provoking “Money.” That in mind, what can you tell us about the other songs that make up the new collection of music?
TRISHES – Each song on the EP is about one of the structures we’ve made to separate ourselves from our primal selves but ultimately fall short because we haven’t reached our divine selves.
“Caesar” is about government, which has a great purpose and that is to organize the chaos that is humanity. For a lot of us though, particularly minorities, government can be really violent. Things like the war on drugs, prison industrial complex and police brutality – warp what’s meant to protect us into things that harm us. The track is really bass heavy and the chorus is kind of a chant, which to me is reminiscent of a battle march.
“Saraswati” is about self awareness and how our ability to be semi and not fully self aware can actually be harmful. We are intelligent enough to create things like fossil fuels without having the foresight of its environmental impact. We make brilliant scientific discovery like finding the atom and then we make bombs out of it. The song is actually kind of a love song though because I’ve concluded, for the time being, that the only way we can become more self aware through the reflection of others.
I found the same dichotomy with “Language,” because while it gives us the ability to form complex thought and is the driver of society and culture, it still doesn’t give us the ability to express ourselves completely accurately. It can also create divides among people, like it can between speakers of different languages, and alienate people, as it does to people who aren’t called by their preferred pronouns. The song though is a pretty sweet and traditional ballot, and the idea is brought up through what sounds like a loving and intimate conversation between two people.
Cryptic Rock – There certainly is a great deal of thought-provoking entwined in your music. As someone who is clearly socially awake, you most certainly see we are going through extremely turbulent times. It seems as if everyone is at one another’s throats for one reason or another. Progress is essential, but would you agree in order to make that progress, we, as a culture, need to stop talking ‘at’ each other and instead talk ‘to’ each other?
TRISHES – Sure. But I think a lot of people need to stop talking and listen to those who don’t often have a platform to speak.
Cryptic Rock – That is a very fair point. In addition to your music, you also have spoken word pieces out there. There is an art to putting words together, and you excel at this. When writing, do the words flow seamlessly or do they need time to process before coming fully into focus?
TRISHES – I don’t really sit down and write, but I walk around and think a lot, and that’s where I “write” most of my spoken word pieces. It happens pretty quickly but it comes after a lot of reading and thinking about a certain topic. I also edit for quite a while to make sure I’m expressing myself effectively.
Cryptic Rock – What you have put out there thus far certainly works well. You will be touring around the USA this spring. How excited are you to hit the road and perform?
TRISHES – This tour is going to be different than everything I’ve done before, it’s going to be a series of museum style pop-ups that display the artwork of EGO along with artwork of local women and people of color that describe their relationship with the concepts of EGO, particularly language, money and government. I’m super excited to connect with people in a deeper way than ever before.
Cryptic Rock – Awesome! Seeing your sound is so diverse, what are some of your musical influences?
TRISHES – Bjork, Regina Spektor, Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent, Jimmy Eat World, Bon Iver, Dashboard Confessional, Coldplay. My great love of Coldplay, I think, is the greatest incongruity of my personality.
Cryptic Rock – Those are some eclectic and wonderful influences that shine through in your own music. Last question. On Cryptic Rock, we also cover movies, particularly Horror and Sci-Fi. If you are a fan of these genres, what are some of your favorites and why?
TRISHES – My favorite movie of all time is M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs (2002). There’s a couple reasons for this, and I think one is that it both implicitly and explicitly asks whether we believe that life is random chaos or if we are all truly connected by a force greater than ourselves. Another reason is the reason I love Sci-Fi in general – it questions what is inherently human. By imagining how we collectively interact with beings and situations outside of our known humanity, we are really trying to extract what is at our core.
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