I'm a music artist, computer scientist, philosopher, and educator from Jackson, Michigan, currently residing on the south side of Chicago. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (if that matters).
I am a "full stack" music artist; that is to say, I handle everything from the idea in my head to the releases on streaming.
I write, perform, and produce the music. I engineer music, including mixing, mastering, recording, and programming music.
I also do live audio.
I am a singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist who plays saxophone, keyboard/piano, guitar, bass, and more.
Aside from features and the occasional but uncommon drum loops, I play everything in every song. My bad bro, I guess I'm just way too independent.
synth pop orchestras are a thing of the past (for now). acoustic guitar and voice conquer sunboy never's soundscape which also includes saxophone, electric guitar, bass, and keys, all played by me - trenton michael. (drum tracks are samples/loops)
one of the last lyrics of the first album is "i'll always be your sunboy." sunboy never tries answering this question: was this promise broken? and what does it even mean to be someone's sunboy?
the nation holds millions hostage.
i played everything except the drums on the song
i made the art which features my friend aliama the spiritual practitioner
but u just stayed the same.
i played everything on the song
i made the art
`see you in june` is about optimistically loving as a flawed person in a flawed world.
the instrumentation is different from my previous work as it features me finger-picking my now-destroyed rogue ra-090 acoustic guitar (i smashed it into a doorway or something btw). i wanted to leave my comfort zone that i ended up in during `liteoatp`.
this one i love to talk about and the deep fans love it. i didn't play guitar before writing this song and i actually picked up guitar just to learn it (i ended up having a lot of fun with guitar; this was very unexpected since guitarists aren't people).
vocals were recorded with rode nt4 and guitar was recorded with shure sm-57. i played the midi synth keys as well.
my friend dora took the photo in the album art, i added the text.
in 2021 i released Life in the Eyes of a Teenage Philosopher which i often abbreviate as liteoatp (yes, i know that's not how acronyms work, no i dont care, eat shit). it is a 22-track glitchcore/synth-pop and r&b/hip-hop album with synth and vocals. it doesn't feature any other live instruments. sonically this album takes place in a surreal and abstract space.
the album art was created by me, edited heavily from a picture i took on a rebel t2i into the graphic seen here. find alternate album art and more goodies in the gallery.
i've had a vision about a teen angst glitchcore project called `life in the eyes of a teenage philosopher` since i was like 14 but it took me time to develop the patience and skill to execute it. plus, i really did have to get a little fucken crazy wit it ya feel...
if i'm being completely honest i nursed this project for a long time as i was using it to hone my producing skills and i actually straight up released it by accident, like i forgot to move it back and people started texting me about it saying they liked it so i didn't bother taking it down. `liteoatp` achieved its purpose and i was ready to let it go, after a whole lot of years of it being an idea in my head.
the album was produced in audacity & garageband for iphone and later logic pro x for macbook (first a pro 2012, later a pro 2017). the gear used includes the focusrite scarlett solo & scarlett 2i2 for audio interfaces; the shure sm-57 & sm-58 and the audiotechnica at-2020 for microphones. everything was recorded at home, in closets, in the middle of the room, wherever. the album was remastered at the university of michigan in 2022.the album, lyrically, reads as a bildungsroman about pride, trauma, love, and being who you are.