While some great artists use their voices as instruments, T-Ray The Violinist uses his instrument to tell stories. Trenton “T-Ray” Thomas offers a special sort of beauty for the stories on his debut EP, Visionary. As with the good art, the overall message is clear, but the details are left for individual listeners to define for themselves.
The five-song, 20-minute EP uses chord progressions and layering that feels warm and hopeful yet seasoned, with a hint of current influence and lots of strings. Visionary wastes no time getting into themes of positivity, progress and thinking ahead. The intro track, “I Have A Dream,” is accented by a snippet of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech from 1963. With the optimistic tone set, the music flows freely from a dream to a reason to wake up with the title track “Visionary.” The production here is bright with a driving, motivational pace—hence the track name.
In track three of T-Ray’s vision, singer Sybil Shanell welcomes listeners to a place where fear and doubt aren’t allowed in the catchy “House of Dreams Remix.” She sings, “Can we live out our fantasies, create our favorite realities?” Space for love and achievement has been created, found, and ready to be accepted by all who made it this far. Hometown hero Alfred Banks brings home the sentiment on the following track, “We Good.” In this case, “good” looks like living fully and going after what you want while making bright visions a reality. “Appreciate the now ’cause that’s all we got,” Banks raps wisely.
The EP ends with free and triumphant sounds in “No More Fear.” With the help of the incomparable Gladney on electric saxophone, the soulful, dance-worthy outro is the perfect polish to finish this intentional body of work. T-Ray speaks without words and evokes sultry passion and power in a modern and mature manner. He pulls together unique artists from different genres to create a textured musical moment all can enjoy. With this EP, T-Ray proves how versatile, expressive and distinct the violin can be while making space for others to dream, envision and achieve in their own ways.
