Los Angeles musician Lexi Vega’s new EP as Mini Trees, Burn Out, is out today via Run For Cover Records. She worked on it with Zac Rae, James McAllister, Jimmy Johnson, and old friend and producer Jon Joseph, and its five songs sparkle with lush synth-pop. Steam it below.
Lexi took us track-by-track through each song on Burn Out to celebrate its release, and you can read her commentary below.
MINI TREES – BURN OUT TRACK BY TRACK
Shapeshifter
“Shapeshifter” is a song about desperately trying to fit in and find belonging somewhere, about how depending on who I’m with I have a tendency to change myself to try to blend in. Calling myself a “well dressed actor”, “folding me inside out til I am a shell of myself”, and ultimately losing myself in the process of trying to look like everybody else. There’s also this analogy of looking at a tapestry that I’ve sewn together and not being able to recognize what it is…asking the listener to interpret it for me.
This was the first song I wrote for the EP and in the process I spent a lot of time playing with synths and exploring new sounds. I feel like it unlocked a desire to pursue a more pop-leaning direction with my songwriting, but ultimately I think Jon (producer) and I maintained a lot of the same analogue tapey, live-band feel that’s always been present in the Mini Trees sound.
Burn Out
I had just finished a pretty intense Europe tour when I started recording this EP, and “Burn Out” was a song that came about from a random songwriting day with Jon, neither of us realizing that we were writing a song that I would end up naming the whole EP after.
In the songwriting process, I wanted to hone in on the imposter syndrome I feel as a musician and the many ways the volatility of the music industry can pile onto my insecurity, comparing it to being in a toxic relationship with someone who uses you when you have something valuable to offer and discards you once you don’t.
“If this is good for my health why does it feel like hell?”
Cave
All of the songs on this EP deal with an internal tension surrounding identity and true happiness, and “Cave” fully gives in to the cynicism and fear that I’ll never find it for myself. For such a dark theme, it was actually really fun playing with the combination of hard vocal tune over rubber bridge acoustics, and ultimately inviting Nick (Medium Build) to lend his voice to the second verse so he could scream some of the more vulnerable lyrics out on my behalf.
“A quiet fills the room like a delicate perfume. A steadying reminder, you’re never gonna find her.”
Sabotage
“Sabotage” is where I feel the tone of the EP starts to turn. Describing the scene of a late night fight with someone you love when emotions are heightened and exaggerated, saying things you don’t mean and regretting them the next day. On a more abstract level it gets at this realization I’ve had that in the moment fear and anxiety feel much more real than they are, and sometimes you just need to wait until the clarity of the morning to realize there’s actually nothing really there to be afraid of.
I wrote this song kinda unexpectedly one morning when I was house sitting for a family member and had only brought my laptop, a mini MIDI controller and SM58. One of those songs that kinda just comes out of the blue.
Push and Pull
I liked the idea of closing the EP with “Push and Pull” because even though it continues to carry a lot of the same themes brought up throughout, to me it feels like it has a little more resolve. One thing that was particularly special about recording this song was that my long time family friend / incredible jazz musician Jimmy Johnson played bass on the track. It was a good reminder that despite how the business side of things can make me question my relationship to music, it’s always just been about getting to connect with friends and loved ones and create cool shit together.
Mini Trees will be on tour with Eliza McLamb this spring, including an NYC show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 28. See all dates below.
MINI TREES: 2024 TOUR DATES
March 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar^
March 19 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn^
March 20 – Nashville, TN – The End^
March 21 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade – Purgatory^
March 22 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle^
March 23 – Carrboro, NC – Cats Cradle Main Room^
March 25 – Washington D.C. – Union Stage^
March 26 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA^
March 28 – New York, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg^
March 29 – Boston, MA – Sinclair^
March 30 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground^
April 1 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground^
April 2 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups^
April 4 – Chicago, IL – Schubas^
April 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium^
April 6 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line^
April 8 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge^
April 10 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club^
April 12 – Seattle, WA – Barboza^
April 13 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir^
April 15 – San Francisco, CA – Cafe Du Nord^
April 25 – San Diego, CA – VooDoo Room^
April 26 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour^
^ = w/ Eliza McLamb
