After more than a decade in the Philippine music scene, Kim Trinidad, who is best known as the vocalist and guitarist for Loop, has finally released her first solo album Blinders on March 14 under Melt Records.
The album is a collection of eight intimate songs originally produced as a personal gift 10 years ago, when Trinidad initially had no plans of sharing these with the public.
Coast2Coast sat down with Trinidad about Blinders’ release, its story and inspirations, and her plans as a musician now based in Australia.
Coast2Coast: After more than a decade of writing music, what made you decide that now is the right time to release an album of your own work?
Trinidad: So this was already an album ten years ago. It was already packed, even with the designs, but just hadn’t been released…
During COVID, my laptop was about to die. My old MacBook was dying. And all my files were in that computer and I thought [that] maybe it’s time to just copy and put all of them in a cloud just to make sure that they don’t disappear or I don’t lose them forever. And when I had those stems, I realized [that] maybe it’s time for me to just try to reproduce the old recordings that I had back in 2015.
So when COVID happened, I decided, since everyone was staying at home, maybe I can edit a few things here and there and then eventually I kind of fell in love with mixing and producing and decided, okay, I’ll make everything good. And it should be ready for everyone else to hear once it’s ready.
Is there a particular message or feeling you hope that your listeners will take away from Blinders?
Blinders is a message. I wrote these songs when I was elated, or when I was in this deep yearning for a person… I’m hoping that the people who will listen to [the songs will] be able to feel that way and can relate [to them].
What’s the story behind the album title?
Blinders, if you’re familiar with the things that you put on [horses’ eyes] It covers each side, left and right… but it’s like human blinders.
It’s definitely cheesy, but about 10 years back, if I had no self control with how I expressed my emotions, I would choose [the] Blinders cover art to be like how horses see things? Like, you’re just-laser focused on one person. Murag ing ana siya nga feeling [It’s like that feeling.] Blinders, you use it so you don’t get distracted with everything else [you’re] just laser focus on one person.
Were there any challenges with creating this album?
Challenges would be [in the] later stages, when I was deciding to mix and produce the whole album. I was really used to doing this with a band with Loop when we made our songs. I usually write the songs and [we would share ideas] on how we want the song to go, [but] because Blinders is all done by me, it’s kind of a little too much. It’s just a lot to do… And aside from some writings, [it’s] more of trying to make sure that the song expresses how I want it to express in my mind and in my ears.
Loop’s music has a distinctive alternative rock sound, while your solo releases sound more intimate. What made you choose a softer sound for your solo work?
That is the beauty of collaboration. If you can hear the difference between Loop and my songs, it’s because Loop is just not me. It’s everyone else. It’s Mic, it’s JP, it’s JC. So I am just a contributor to the Loop sound. So the reason why there’s a difference between the sound of my band and my solo project is because this solo project is all me and this [how] I would prefer my sound to be.
…It’s just different. So it’s not really choosing, but it’s more like how it just comes to be if you’re working with other people versus just yourself.
What artists or albums inspired Blinders?
Ten years ago, I think I was listening to a lot of Kimbra, a lot of Saint Vincent, a lot of John Mayer. Maybe [the album,] Golden Echo. I think Charlie XCX before [she became famous.]
How is your music career as a solo artist in a completely different country?
When I moved here, I was really active on Facebook, it wasn’t even music stuff. Before I left for Australia, [I got addicted to] sports. And then when I moved here, I decided to be really quiet [on] social media. I haven’t posted… I did that for two years until I decided, okay, fine, I’ll release my album.
My life really changed nga wala ko nag focus og music, [when I stopped focusing on music], so it was just really living life. I think the shift would be [now that I’m] deciding to release my album and trying to get back into music.
…this year, I’m definitely planning to do more music stuff. I think it’s time to stop hiding and start making music and being out there.
Has migrating to Australia changed your taste or the way you write music?
I’m still the same musician I [was] when I left. It’s just that my mindset has changed, which probably means [that my] songwriting would also change, but the genre is still there…when I moved here, there are so many things [of culture] I didn’t think existed. [Eventually, I would be introduced to] other things [with lots of] differences with Filipino culture and every other culture in the world, it’s just good to be exposed to it.
We’ll see what happens. I’m very curious with how I would write things with this new mindset.
Listen to Blinders by Kim Trinidad below.
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