Establishing the mood with a captivating bass performance, textured trip-hop drums and astral melodies, Trey Bruce opens All Americans with intrigue as he sings, “There′s a strip mall ’round the corner, lease signs in every window, and fear in almost all my neighbours′ eyes, there’s a disconnect between the politicians and the people…”
We immediately connect with the message of the track, Trey’s emotive vocals, intelligent delivery and the sublime soundscape. There is no doubt that All Americans holds a cinematic allure, perfect for a movie like the Oscar-winning, One Battle After Another, or an emotive scene in a TV show like Succession or Mr. Robot.
The choral harmonies add dimensionality and high emotional quotient to the track, whilst the core message of the song is about the divisions, fear, economic struggles, and violence in American society. Trey questions why we turn against each other, as politicians and institutions seem disconnected from their lives. Its central message is that despite these differences, Americans share many of the same hardships and should see themselves as being one rather than as “us” versus “them”.
Trey’s delivery switch-ups keep us enthralled throughout and showcase his versatility as an artist, and the electric guitar performance is simply transcendental. The ethereal finale feels almost spiritual, again tapping into the key message of oneness which feels more important and zeitgeist than ever.
Speaking on his creative process, Trey confesses, “I wrote All Americans by myself about 14 years ago. I’m a successful songwriter, so the original version has been cut by outside artists. The lyric is a timeless narrative, so it never goes out of unfortunate style. I tweaked the original lyric a bit to fit my new version of it. I built a loop and played bass and acoustic guitars first. I sang a scratch vocal for vibe, and started playing synth parts etc etc, I hired my daughter for BGVs, she killed it. I hired a mix guy, remixed 5x!”
On his intention, he adds, “This song is about the lyric more than anything. I painted little movie clips, one line at a time, that people can truly relate to. It connects them to the things they see where they live: the business economy of their neighborhood, the overhanging mood of daily life, the fears, the mistrusts, the spiritual and physical hunger, their hope or lack of, their outlook on the future etc. It shines a light on how much hate and harm we can heap on each other, and how we should be able to reason and find compromise, or at the very least, find disagreement without crushing hate.”
We learn that Trey performed bass, acoustic guitars and synths himself, while some of the drums and percussion were recorded live before being processed digitally. For some wider context, Trey Bruce has written for other artists and earned significant recognition throughout his career, including an Emmy, ASCAP Awards and numerous No. 1 singles.
Needless to say, we are in awe, and have added All Americans to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of Trey Bruce, including the entirety of his 2023 album, Rodeo Love War.