THIS WEEK:THE LAKE DISTRICT
The Lake District is Trevor Ransom from Seattle & currently living in Los Angeles.
The sun is shining,the bee’s are a buzzing and I am looking out into a garden full of colour(Thanks Mrs C) whilst I listen to the gorgeous music of The Lake District,yep sometimes life really is a bowl of cherries.
I would never have guessed in a month of sundays that Trevor was massively influenced by Muse back in the day.Normally just the mere mention of Muse causes me to come out in a nasty rash but Trevor has taken some melodic loveliness,mixed it with deft piano playing,pleasing rhythms & subtle electronica to concoct something very beautiful.
TBH I blame Debs McCoy for reigniting my love of piano landscapes.I thought it was buried in a foggy after club haze of yesterday but all things ‘chill’ have returned to me with a vengence,maybe its a reflective time,maybe its a need to find relaxation in my head or maybe its purely because the music is just bloody good.
You hear the influence of Trevor’s hip-hop/electronic phase throwing shoots across his compositions.
Trevor puts it much better “When I first came into college I was on the swim team which is where I met my buddy Austin. We found out that we had a similar taste in music, and both had somewhat of a background in creating our own music. So we started making these melancholy, indie, hip-hop beats and then rapping over them. It was a blast and we both learned so much from each other, but at the beginning of this past semester we decided to start our own solo projects. Right now I’d say that my music is a piano based, ambient project. It’s heavily influenced by massive landscapes that aim to leave the listener in a state of frailty. I want to give my listeners a space to think, and my goal is for my music to enhance that process.“
The Lake District were featured in this weeks Fresh On The Net Fresh Faves where our own Steff Lane said of their song Framed “This particular portrait has been framed and placed high in my music gallery!” You obviously enjoyed it enough to vote it in via our weekend Listening Post so I hope we hear lots more from The Lake District.
Currently working on the next single to follow up ‘Tidsresor‘ & Stages I hope you find as much good in the music of The Lake District as I have.
Enjoy the sun,the birds & the bee’s and allow yourself a moment to get to know The Lake District.
1. What are you up to at the moment?
Right now I’m getting ready to graduate from college at Biola University, then I’m headed to Europe for some work and travel! I’ll be in Sweden for a couple months, then Ireland, and then I’ll end up in England for a year. Needless to say, it’s just a tad difficult to focus on school right now.
2. Favourite childhood memory?
Going camping with my family and my best friends family. We’d go to Eastern Washington every summer and eat way too many peaches, and swim a ton. It was a blast.
3. Hero?
Jason Bourne.
4. Villain?
Ben Linus.
5. What/who makes you laugh?
Moss and Roy from the IT Crowd are brilliant. That show kills me. Also Fred Armisen, and Jeff Goldblum crack me up with every role they’re in.
6. Describe what you do?
I’m a freelance web designer who loves, and creates music. I’d say my music is ambient/alternative. I definitely try to have a cinematic element in the music too. Oftentimes I’ll start my creative process by looking at a picture and then drawing inspiration from the emotions and thoughts that surface as I imagine what it would be like to be present in the image. Also, lately all my music has been instrumental. I think I’ll be taking that direction for the foreseeable future. This is partly because I won’t have access to a microphone during my travels, and partly because I love the challenge of creating a mood, and a space without the use of lyrics.
7. Who’s hair would you like to have for just one day?
Richard Ayoade as Moss in the IT Crowd.
8. Best musical experience to date?
Last Saturday night actually. I played a set in my friends living room with about 30-40 people from my school and the nearby area. I was deep into the music, so I didn’t notice, but afterwards people came up and told me that they were getting emotional. Quite a few people introduced themselves afterwards and told me how good it was. I’m truly grateful to be able to bless people like that.
9. What artist inspires you?
I’d have to say Òlafur Arnalds is probably my biggest inspiration at this point. Both his solo stuff, and Kiasmos.
10. What does Fresh On The Net mean to you?
It’s a wonderful opportunity for up and coming musicians to share their projects and get heard by a bigger audience.
Great interview Johnno !
Always nice to get some extra information regarding the artists.
I really liked The Lake Districts’ ‘Framed’ and will be searching out for more of Trevors tracks.
Thanks Johnno, and Steff for the kind words. I’m grateful for your support 🙂