CRÈME is the creation of Trixie Reiss. A former collaborator with pioneering electronic act The Crystal Method, Reiss wrote and performed on their debut platinum-selling album Vegas, which included their No.1 hit ‘Comin’ Back’. Reiss now returns with new music as CRÈME, entirely written, produced and performed by herself: a genuine solo affair.
Raised in NYC by two poets, she was consumed by art and music but particularly fascinated by the expanding influence and artistry of electronic music. The music produced as CRÈME is a result of this obsession.
CRÈME will be releasing a succession of singles throughout 2018, with “Deed” marking this year’s first. They all relate to each other, resulting in a sort of stylistic collage. Some are poppy and others more downtempo, but they’re all 100% CRÈME.
“Deed” is a song that arose from a visceral dream about a situation that happened between a “Deed” (a man in drag who likes women sexually) and me,” Trixie explains. “It culminates with a reverse #metoo moment where I am the predator. When I sat down to write it, I fell in love with that arp FM bass and used it to create an off-balance and unpredictable lead melody to set the mise-en-scène. “Deed" became a stage where I got to act out what mattered most that day…through a multifaceted lens.”
In addition to breaking down stylistic boundaries by mixing and matching vibes which Trixie says is “easy nowadays”, it was important to her to flip the roles in “Deed”, using her voice as the one in control and to ask a burning question in the chorus.
Since her days collaborating with The Crystal Method, CRÈME has seen music technology grow rapidly, as music-making has become more accessible.
“Back then I used to record complex multi-track accepella songs and I was obsessed with my friend’s “profit 5” and “DX7” that I would spend hours tweaking knobs on,” she explains. “Then I met those guys who heard my stuff and wanted to use my voice and songs in the context of their music. It was awesome in so many ways but I’ve always felt that I have so much more in me, since I’d composed on the piano, made recordings and been in bands all my life. My relationship to music is as “creator”, it’s always been that way.”
“As far as my sound and stylistic direction, I’ve always used a DAW for recording midi and audio.
I started out with Reason, before the rise of Massive, Serum and Synth. Now the principals of recording and synthesis are the same but better, faster and way more accessible. Before I used to work with collaborators who had expensive equipment and studios but the technology has progressively gotten better and better, so that now, using everything is quite instinctual and being able to make good music has become almost commonplace.”
“Since there is so much great stuff out there, there’s a kind of self-created pressure to fit into a successful streaming mold. I try really hard to make things that sound like this or that but somehow I always end up sounding different and I’ve grown to accept that. I’m beginning to think it might actually work for me! I like the difference but I still want to be able to feel heard, it’s that soft spot somewhere in between where I want to tell my story.”
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