Trash Boat’s new album ‘Crown Shyness’ is an immensely personal one for vocalist Tobi Duncan. Across its ten-tracks, he wrestles with his inner self and deals with life’s hardships via metaphors rooted in nature. “My worst anxieties, my family, my past, my future, my responsibilities,” he lists. “I spent a long time looking inward.” The result is some of their most vital music to date.
Hey Tobi, how’s it going? Are you guys good?
All doing great. Got a full year of touring ahead of us!
What was your mindset like going into your new album? How were you feeling after ‘Nothing I Write…’?
We knew we had to step up our game. We did something right on the last album so we had to do even better.
‘Crown Shyness’ leans heavily on nature metaphors, was there a sense of wanting to shed baggage or get back to basics?
Not exactly. I felt an affinity with the idea of being the lone tree in the middle of a dense canopy of crown shyness. So much going on around you but never truly connecting. I structured all of the songs around this foundation.
How has the band taking off affected you, has it helped you all grow up?
It’s kept us busy doing something we love. That’s all that matters.
Do you find yourself wanting to write about different topics now than when you first started out?
Now that I’ve finished ‘Crown Shyness’ I do feel like branching out with my concepts. I’m not sure where I’ll go with the next record. We’ll have to wait and see.
