Trophii Vitamins and Flowers: An Album A Day

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    After waiting over 4 years for a debut album, Lindsey Pavao’s angry kickstarter backers finally have something to show for their donations. Pavao, one half of the dream pop duo Trophii, was a semifinalist on the NBC singing competition The Voice back in 2012. Pavao was always something of an oddball among the show’s mainstream pop, rock and country artists as she was clearly cut from an indie background. No matter how much dubstep and pop production her coach Christina Aguilera surrounded her with, she retained her unique indie stylings.

    This indie streak likely played a big role in her post Voice approach to making a debut album; kickstarter. Rather than selling out and cutting a pop record hot off the heels of the exposure she gained from The Voice, Pavao decided to go small time and make her music her way; the only snag is that it seems she was unsure of what way that was. Somewhere along the line she joined up with a band before breaking off on her own project with co-conspirator Richie Smith.

    The combination of Pavao and Smith is a strong one; despite the duo’s debut album being weird and often experimental it succeeds on almost every level. As a self described dream pop duo, you could be forgiven for expecting them to sound like a boring and ambient wall of sound with lilty vocals laid over top. On the contrary, most songs feature strong, driving rhythms and interesting melodies on top of the wash of ambient synths and echoey guitars. Even the songs that are mostly mellow and ambient feature prominent melodies that keep the tracks from being dull.

    Pavao’s vocals have not lost a step from her days on the voice, brilliantly going from sweet and soothing on Vitamins and Flowers to creepy and a bit threatening on Raven. I think Raven and Featherway are two of the most interesting tracks on the album as the melodies and interplay between Smith's guitar and Pavao’s vocals create a great combo.

    Surprisingly for such an ambient album there is a lot of tasty guitar work throughout. From the solos on the album opener Itch and second track Trove to the interesting melodies played throughout Raven and Featherway, Smith’s guitar work is superb. What Smith does throughout this album is something far rarer than playing the guitar well, it is playing the guitar in a restrained manner that always serves the song.

    As a huge fan of both Pavao and genuinely good indie music, I absolutely adore this album. While it’s entirely possible that there are a million better indie records out there that I simply do not know about, this album is fantastic. Trophii have done just enough with melody and rhythm to keep the ambient elements of this record from being drowsy or boring, but they do this without overpowering those ambient elements. If this is what dream pop sounds like, then I might have to go listen to some more dream pop.
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