Elise Trouw is obviously not the first person to discover a loop pedal, nor the first person to play many instruments on one track, but still, to me, what she does feels new.
And perhaps part of that is because tracks built up entirely from loops can often get boring very quickly, whereas her ‘loop’ music videos actually have momentum. They are so skilfully arranged, and as much about the performance as the music.
I sometimes find it fun to watch musicians really shred — to play incredibly fast, with incredible precision. But I actually find what Elise Trouw does more impressive than that, because she just makes it look absolutely effortless. It sounds like she is performing with a rock-solid band behind her. And I know that if I tried to do something like that I would just fuck up take after take after take…
Current Favourite Thing:
Also, I mean, there’s two ways you can try to deal with very young musicians who are extraordinarily precious. You can be consumed with bitterness, or you can try to vicariously enjoy the youthful enthusiasm. I defy you not to do the latter when watching this video: