About
TRIGGER: TO INITIATE OR PRECIPITATE (A CHAIN OF EVENTS, SCIENTIFIC REACTION, PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS, ETC.)
SLIP: A MISTAKE IN JUDGMENT OR TO LOSE ONE'S FOOTING.
Existing somewhere between country, folk, and roots rock, Triggers & Slips have been making music blurring the lines of genre for over a decade. Breaking these rules and proverbial boundaries has resulted in a fiercely-loyal following akin to other genre-benders like Lucero and Frank Turner in their hometown of Salt Lake City. With their 2012 debut EP and two albums under their belt, the band is now set to share their most fully-formed and emotionally-mature work to date, What Do You Feed Your Darkness?
While the music is unabashedly honky-tonk in its origins – rife with pedal steel, twangy electric/acoustic guitar work, and lead singer/songwriter Morgan Snow’s country drawl that belies his roots as a sixth-generation Utah native – the songs themselves subvert classic country storylines of love, loss, and substance abuse by viewing them through a gritty, real-world lens. Snow has lived every line and every phrase within.
The emotional weight of the album is right there in the title — What Do You Feed Your Darkness? — a moniker borne from Snow's turning inward after a lifetime of battling his own demons, going through a divorce, and his experiences as a social worker in the mental health field.
"I've done my best to dance around it in my music," he says of his profession. "But I think I'm at that point where it's so much a part of my story and it comes through in my songwriting...it's hard to avoid. It's that moment of 'something's speaking to you in this realm; you should follow it.’
“I don't want to come across like I've got it all figured out," he adds, noting that his profession doesn't mean he's a perfect being. "I'm also a part of this journey we call life, and this record is a pretty good, honest snapshot of my struggles over the last five or six years."
Snow’s fascination with looking inward informs much of the work on the new album, each song steeped in the psychology of relationships. From the rollicking opener "Family Vs. Business" to the heart-wrenching "I Didn’t Mean To," each song feels like a window into Snow's own life — and, by extension, the lives of anyone who's ever struggled with the ups and downs of the human condition. The source material is heavy, but it’s refreshingly vulnerable as well.
It's not all doom and gloom, though: even with these deeply-personal themes permeating the core of the record, the band doesn't shy away from its influences, with a cover of Dwight Yoakam's "It Won't Hurt" feeling right at home in this collection (“Dwight is the GOAT,” Snow chuckles), as well as a nod to the legendary Utah Phillips in the album's final – and secret – track.
The band’s shared love of emotionally-wrenching groups like Alice in Chains (a cover of “Rooster” appears on a previous release) has also influenced the themes on the album. While 'grunge' isn't a word one might use to define the music of Triggers & Slips, there is similar emotional weight that can be heard across their material. The parallels to the late Layne Staley’s well-documented struggles with addiction are also impossible to ignore, as Snow taps into that well both creatively and professionally.
There's a lot of heartache in country music, and Triggers & Slips aren’t afraid to lean into those traditional themes in their songwriting. What sets them apart is their ability to find hope and resilience in their work, rather than a punchline (as so much modern country music does). It’s meant to be a light in the darkness. In fact, Snow credits his foray into songwriting and performing as the very thing that saved him from himself over a decade ago, and it remains the rock on which he leans — the band’s name itself being a reminder the constant struggles we all face as individuals.
“I can’t imagine a better band name for what I do,” Snow remarks. “Country-influenced rock ‘n’ roll and grit with a deep connection to what I am.”
With What Do You Feed Your Darkness?, Triggers & Slips have made an album that's sure to resonate with anyone who's ever felt like they're fighting a losing battle against themselves. It's an intimate, honest record that feels like a conversation with old friends in a smoky bar room — a reminder that it’s okay to hurt, it’s okay to talk about it, and that better days are ahead.
