Written by: Oliver Heffron
Trxy! may have missed the original wave of shoegaze, but the 19-year-old singer/songwriter/DIY-producer is trying to revive it anyway. Hailing from Southern Virginia, he manifests the energy of his best ’90s and early aughts influences through the restless, hyper-digital lens of a Gen Z teenager.
Southern Virginia may not be the first place most would expect a shoegaze prodigy to emerge, but for 19-year-old Trxy!, aka Trey Odell, the region’s rhythms of early-2000s hip hop formed the first beats of his musical consciousness. “I was always surrounded by hip hop,” he explains. “I used to spend time in the studio with my dad when he was an artist—he did Southern hip hop from the early 2000s. I was pretty much around it my whole life.”
As a teenager, he discovered Linkin Park, and it was a revelation: a collision of melody, metal, and angst spoke to him in its experimentation. “It completely changed my perspective on music,” he says. Southern hip-hop and nu-metal would eventually shape Trxy!’s own sonic experimentation in the shoegaze space.
On how he first started making music, Odell emphasizes the importance of BandLab, a mobile app that lets artists produce tracks entirely on their phones. “It all started in 2020 when BandLab artists began blowing up by making music on their phones. That’s how I make all my music—on my phone,” he explains. The process was deceptively simple; the challenge lay in turning lo-fi beginnings into a fully realized sound. “With BandLab, it’s so limitless,” he explains. “You really have to know what you’re doing. It took years for me to find my signature sound and figure out what lane I wanted to go into.”
That signature sound is a hybrid of shoegaze textures, nu-metal grit, and modern pop sensibilities. He shared how TikTok trends about retro gaming content helped him find his sound: “I was doing content for old games and retro movies, then a trend emerged where people added shoegaze to vintage music and games. It just made sense for me to do my own songs and build my brand behind it,” he says.
TRXY! is an impressive producer, but also a compelling songwriter. Underpinning his music’s sonic flourishes is an honest, intense emotional core that makes each track’s angsty energy feel earned. “For all my songs, I try to be as authentic as possible—whatever I’m feeling in the moment,” he says. “That’s always how it should be. I write and make music based on my emotions and the vibe that day.”
He also shares how music is a form of therapy, a way to process trauma and grief. The loss of his mother before he began making music looms large in his creative story. “Honestly, that gave me the inspiration to do it. It all came from built-up emotion and past trauma,” he says
On his upcoming debut album, Drowning in Bliss, TRXY! describes it as an artistic thesis and personal catharsis. The 14-track project fuses dense, immersive shoegaze soundscapes with intense nu-metal tones while exploring themes of depression, suffering, and existential reflection. On the album’s title, he explains, “It’s about happiness, but also uses happiness as a metaphor. It’s not just about being happy—it has a lot of dark thoughts behind it, too.”
Photo Courtesy of Liz Wiltshire
Tracks like the lead single “Intertwine” showcase his knack for blending dreamy guitars with layered vocals, balancing heaviness with delicacy. Made in LA with producer Franco Reed and guitarist Kora Plunkett of Narrow Head, the single sees TRXY!’s sound translate with high-quality studio backing while retaining its unique identity. “Backstair Breathing” sees TRXY! display more of his melodic qualities, as he explains: “I was looking for more a melodic type of sound, like going beyond my usual, heavy shoegaze sound.” He also released an acoustic version of his recent single, “Closure,” highlighting his range.
Discussing the balance between musicality and lyricism, he explains that “If it connects with someone in their own way, that’s all I want,” but emphasizes the importance of songwriting to him. “What I want most is for people to relate when they hear my music, to feel something real in the moment. I put very deep lyrics into my songs, and I hope every fan listens to the lyrics.”
Trxy!’s trajectory signals an artist unwilling to be pinned down by genre. “Definitely expect more new sounds,” he promises. Currently experimenting with blending pop and electronic elements into his shoegaze foundation, he seems to be an artist always seeking to evolve while staying true to a grounded emotional core. In a digital landscape saturated with fleeting trends, Trxy! is carving a lane that is both intimate and expansive.
The journey from a Virginia kid shadowing his father in the studio to a rising force redefining a genre in the digital age is marked by loss, experimentation, and a refusal to compromise authenticity. In Trxy!, shoegaze finds a voice that is at once nostalgic and hyper-modern, new and yet familiar.