Speaking with Durham-based, alt-soul singer-songwriter Tre. Charles, whose presence is focused and magnanimous, you’d be forgiven for wondering if he’s the same person who wrote the frenzied lyrics of “Lately.”
“Lately I’ve been doing too much / And lately I’m always in a rush,” he sings in a reverb-soaked voice, distilling how it feels in those moments when life is moving too fast. Many of us vowed to keep pandemic-era promises to slow down, but with the lockdown shrinking in the rear view mirror, the message of “Lately.” may be more vital than ever. And Charles is a uniquely suited messenger.
He knows what it’s like to be in motion; his dad’s job resulted in frequent family relocation, and he’s carried a nomadic lifestyle into adulthood. “I like moving around,” he says, “and I like being part of communities, because I really didn’t have a lot of communities growing up.” Richmond, one of his former places of residence, holds special significance. He says he feels like an “adopted son,” having been warmly received at Dominion RiverRock, countless brewery gigs and the April release show at Shockoe Atelier for “Currently.,” the EP that “Lately.” is part of. [Editor’s note: the periods after each song are not a grammatical mistake].
He started building Richmond connections in 2016, during a stint living here and working at the Country Club of Virginia. He was more of a musical observer then, “trying to figure out how the music scene worked,” he says. Before committing to music, he looked for his place in the modeling and restaurant industries, but both proved unfulfilling: “I was trying to follow that path but [realized] it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted or what I liked or what spoke to me.” It took coming to a stop — literally and figuratively — to get him to change course.
In January of 2019, Charles was involved in a serious car accident. The recovery that followed was mental, physical, and vocational — “on all fronts,” as he puts it. He lost his job and had to change apartments on top of having to relearn to walk. He was also getting his feet under him in new relationship, and he set about discovering new ways to articulate his emotions and make space for vulnerability. Therapy played a part in that. So did music. He and his girlfriend started frequenting an abandoned WeWork to sharpen their artistic chops. “We would sneak in every day, go into separate rooms and work on our art — try to get better and try to get organized and become professional artists.”
The release of his new EP — on his birthday, April 26 — marked one of the most significant milestones in that goal’s realization.
Style Weekly: “Lately.” contains such a powerful message about being centered. How did you find your way to prioritizing that?
Tre. Charles: When that accident happened, it was like, “This stuff could be gone instantaneously. This stuff could be taken away. What do you really want to do with your life? What’s important to you?” I was drifting through life trying to figure out what exactly it is I wanted to do. Maybe stuff would come, maybe it wouldn’t, but I wasn’t being too proactive. And then after rehab and everything like that I did start pursuing it, but lockdown happened, and that made me feel like, “Man, this is not meant to be. This is stressful.”
Then I started turning to music more so as a journal. I was like, “I need to get these feelings out, because it’s bottling up inside of me, with civil unrest and racism, not having money, and a bunch of stressors in the world…” Before I used to think I had to make music like a Trey Songz, or somebody like that. But that’s not me. Nothing against singing “Panty Droppa,” but that’s not necessarily my thing. I liked music that connected on deeper levels and deeper emotions.
Whose voice is that at the start of “Lately.”?
TC: My therapist. That’s an actual session. That was very intentional with trying to show people that this is where I’m at. I still have imposter syndrome, like “Is this what I’m really supposed to be doing? There are so many other great artists out here. Should I be doing this? Why should I be doing this?” But that’s me trying to lean into the fear, being like, “This is who you are, this is where you’re at, and it’s OK. There’s other people who are right here too.”
What motivates you to convey vulnerability in your art?
TC: It’s a juxtaposition of being a large-statured Black man, but having to be able to show that there’s layers to that — showing the vulnerability side and the strength in that, versus just the brute strength that the world kind of depicts us as.
What has it been like sharing the message of pacing yourself in the live setting?
TC: It’s interesting because I started off just playing breweries. I never really did the open mic route, or the route people typically take going into it, because it was more out of a necessity of “I gotta get some rent money….” You know how people go to breweries and they’re there to talk and not necessarily there to listen to music? I would get more people coming over to me, getting a small audience and being able to talk to them and have that intimate concert situation early on. Throughout my career so far, it’s been a lot of situations where I have an intimate concert, and I try to make every show and every time I play more of an intimate, therapeutic situation, versus just an act. People always say, “You play so relaxing and so calming. It seems like therapy.” And it honestly is every single time we do it.
Are you still most comfortable on the move, given your family’s relocations when you were younger?
TC: That’s something that I battle with. I do love the fact of being a nomad, but I think it is because when I was younger, we moved around a lot because of my dad’s job [as] a civil engineer. I grew up in New York, came down the East Coast and was moving around to a bunch of places like Florida, Virginia … I wasn’t in a consistent community, so I think it continued on with me in my older life, wanting to stop and go to different places in different communities and be part of those communities, even if it’s brief. I can take a piece of these communities with me and I can always be a part of the community whenever I come back.
What made you want to release the “Currently.” EP on your birthday?
TC: That was another culmination of “This is currently who I am.” I had to set a hard deadline because as an artist you can just wait until the perfect time to put something out… [I thought] “No, put this out. Share where you’re at and see if it resonates with people. If it doesn’t, at least you did it, and you achieved that.”
Tre. Charles will perform at the Common House in Richmond on Friday, July 7. To learn more about his upcoming performances and hear the “Currently.” EP, visit trecharles.com.
