A Musical Zoo: Alex G’s Trick

Image by Matthias Gat

A universal form of communication between humans is a smile – with our faces scrunched up, eyes squinted, and upturned lips, we can recognize this very distinct emotion regardless of our language barriers. Facial expressions and body language tell a person a lot about who they are seeing and what emotion they are trying to convey, hence why more often than not, people are the focus of attention on album covers. The choice to diverge from this and use an animal on the cover can complicate what the artist is trying to convey, which I’d argue makes the listening experience more engaging. Why was this animal chosen? What does it represent, if anything? This series will explore a ‘musical zoo,’ so to speak, with different animals on different album covers.

Alex G is an indie musician, most well known for his single “Treehouse” featuring Emily Yacina. His 2012 album, Trick, captures what was to come in the following decade in the indie rock genre.

I will be covering a few key songs from Trick but I encourage you to listen to the following album in full as it truly works as a collective rather than a few disjointed pieces.

This album tells a story, more specifically a profile on someone who serves as the narrator. The songs in the album characterize the narrator through not only their personal experiences, but also about the people around them. Each song has a structure and overall sound that exudes a deep sense of nostalgia. 

Track 1: “Memory”

The nostalgic vibe is strong in the title track “Memory.” The kind of nostalgia that is presented, however, is very melancholic. With only a few lines per verse (and only two verses), the song tells a story about self medicating through “a powder bunny” which is assumed to be coke. Through the coke usage, a friendship was forged. But the friendship faded, there wasn’t a distinct end or message left for the narrator.

“I really like the game we played / You left the CD here / A lot of positive messages / And something left unclear.” 
The song ends with a sample from the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond with a conversation between two characters.
“Oh, I know, it's all in the Bible!”

“You ever think about space? What is it?”

“Is it really endless?”

“I mean, if you had a spaceship, could you go flyin' and flyin' through space forever?”

The lyrics telling a short story of a friendship with “something left unclear” reflects the question asked by a character on whether “space” (a metaphor for friendship in the song) is really “endless.”

The question, “could you go flyin’ and flyin’ through space forever?” transitions into the following song. 

Track 2: “Forever”

This is my favorite song on this record by a mile– the harmonies and whispery vocals never fail to captivate me. The song clearly details a story of the narrator grappling with alcoholism and subsequently trying to change their ways. The first verse describes their way of living as an alcoholic; miserable. The chorus has people calling out to the narrator, telling them that their actions are making them hard to love.

“Out of it / Pull it together / We could love you / Forever and ever.”
The second chorus slightly changes from the first with it being in the first person.

“I will pull it together /You can love me / Forever and ever.”

The narrator decides they must change their ways in order to regain the people they have grown distant from, taking the reins, so to speak.

Track 3: “Animals”/ Track 6: “People”/ Track 15: “Sarah”

These three songs stand out from the rest as they reveal much about the narrator’s desires, struggles, and relationships; furthermore, they each give hints as to what the cover means.

The chorus for “Animals” is a repetition of the following phrase:  “I do / Animals, not people.”

It supplements the characterization of the narrator from the previous song: someone who wants to be loved but struggles from self-isolation and self-destructive behavior. In response, they remedy this loneliness with their dog Rosie. 

While the whole “I do dogs, not people” is a cliche that many millennials have been made fun of for, I think the narrator discusses this sentiment in a novel way. Their characterization of Rosie as their favorite dog is also challenged by behaviors many people would describe as negative– peeing on a neighbor’s lawn and biting the narrator’s hand. I think Rosie is a reflection of the narrator. They are able to love her because they think she has traits that make up for her faults. Similar to the narrator who wants to be loved despite their flaws, or even be loved with their flaws.

With “Animals” detailing the ease the narrator has interacting with Rosie, it’s fitting that “People” discusses the flipside. The narrator had established in the previous chorus that people are the opposite of animals making the tone of this song much more frustrating and sad. 

The verses describe the narrator feeling indifferent to people as well as their self-destructive behaviors. What is especially noteworthy about this song is the mention of the character, Sarah, within the context of self-destructive behaviors and feeling hard to love. While only being mentioned once, her name weighs heavily on the meaning of the song in a greater context.

Her importance is explored further in the 15th track named after her. This song focuses on the narrator’s relationship with her. The narrator consistently seems confused as to how this “friendship” has lasted so long, especially considering how they present bad and self-destructive behavior; they believe her to be too good to be true. 

“I can't be what you need / I am stuck in a dream / I am stuck in a dream / Don't you know / She's been here all along in a dream? /She belongs in a dream.”

This song also has a noteworthy lyric that connects back to “Animals.” 

“She loves me like a dog.”

While the lyric is vague, saying only “a dog,” I think the narrator feels like the love Sarah gives to them is reminiscent of the love and connection they feel to their dog, Rosie. There are several parallels between the two songs, like how the narrator gives unconditional love towards Rosie despite her bad behaviors just as how Sarah continues to be close with the narrator despite their self-destructive and, frankly, selfish behavior.

What is Trick?

The album cover shows a photo of a German Shepard running down the aisle of a church with two men. One man is sitting in the benches, facing away from the camera. The other man is in the background, his face obscured by the title of the album: Trick. Written in a sans serif font and in a bright aquamarine, it feels out of place from the dull, brownish-pink undertones of the rest of the image.

This album has a recurring theme of the narrator finding it hard to connect with people, let alone be confident in themselves as a person.“Animals” solidified that Rosie and the narrator serve a similar purpose in the narrative. The narrator sees themself as some sort of dog; therefore, the dog on the cover is the narrator. I think the imagery of the dog running away from the man with the obscured face shows how the narrator feels disconnected from most people– it represents a rejection of social norms or humanity and runs away from change.
This album tells the story of an old dog who can’t learn new Tricks.