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Photo: Brian Ziff

Memphis, Tennessee, like its Egyptian namesake, is a city on a river—home to dreams, commerce, and pharaohs both real and imagined, street level and heavenly. Memphis is also a city of music. A long history of genres and their musical visionaries sprout from this community, making the most of what they're gifted. Fresco Trey is one such artist.

Sprung by a birthday gift of unique possibility—a studio session—Trey has taken one gift and combined it with his innate gift for storytelling, and as he puts it, is “giving a voice to those not heard.” Lyrically known for purposeful observation and introspection, his latest release Detour is just that, a shift not in quality but in pacing, a bend in the flow that uplifts, raising the bar for this young artist.

“To me, life is full of Detour and not all detours are bad," shares Trey. "Everyone thought I was going to play ball, I detoured. This project is representation of me on detour again, from just sad music to happy music. We must learn to embrace the detours in with enthusiasm and optimism.” 

Setting the tone and messaging with a righteous belief embedded in the EP, the lead song "Shooting Star" is a lyrical mantra loosely sung over a minimalist piano chord progression, a palate cleanser for the full detour to follow. On the latest single "Bad Bitches," Trey laments a tale as old as time—the love of alluring but directionless women, a brief but powerful verse over a choppy beat, anchored by a big baseline, bookended by big hooks. In "I Like," Trey dives into a swerving love affair, a hi-hat riddling beat balancing his bravador before slowing the song down for a beatless pre-chorus that sways back into the hook again. "Not No Mo" a proper single might have the most elegant balance of the Detour aesthetic, a narrative about glowing up from nothing sung over a spiky, hand-clap-accented beat that drives the listener into a daydream sequence of babes, beaches, and hazy fun.

The big focus single drop off the EP is "Passenger Princess," a confident, bravado-laden track highlighted by a big bouncy bassline backdropped by moody synths, which is bolstered by an excellent contrasting verse from NLE Choppa. The biggest single from the EP dropped earlier this year, featuring charlieonafriday and Einer Bankz. It's a a luscious, full of luster track about misleading love, with a pushing bulling rhythm that feels like a zealous heartbeat. Ending on the hopeful piano-styled ballad, Trey’s voice and range are put on display again, with a longing, lustful narrative that has a hopeful us against the world narrative, a purposeful ending to a wonderful project.

Taken altogether, this work may be a detour to Trey’s prior tendencies, but won’t be a detour to his future ascent as a proper star. The future is bright for this soon-to-be King of Memphis. 

Listen to Detour below: