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Sitting at a picnic table under a flower-surrounded canopy, Bijoux Cone links her fingers together, reflecting on the sounds and stories of her new album, Love Is Trash. “It’s about navigating different types of meaningful relationships and acknowledging that maybe nothing really lasts forever,” she says.
A mouse races by, then disappears into the shrubbery. Cone smiles, adding, “And the gesture of love is kind of what’s more important than the projection of what you think something is going to be or what it is.”
We’re talking about the title track, “Love Is Trash,” a song whose melancholy energy is uplifted by bossa nova undercurrents and synth snaps with a cadence like elevator music’s sexy sister. Cone says the song is about polyamory, but also the different types of emotional relationships that you can have in your life: with family, chosen family, a lover, a crush.
“It’s kind of acknowledging all of that, and also acknowledging traveling and dating people who are really far away, not really knowing the weight or seriousness of a relationship, and how to navigate that,” she says.
Cone wrote a lot of Trash while traveling in Latin America. She spent time in Brazil, a country whose energy and soundscape found their way into the moods and sounds of the album. “Not necessarily in literal ways, but just like when you travel as an artist and you absorb experiences like a sponge,” she explains.
Cone describes Brazil as one of the “pieces of the puzzle” of the album’s inspiration. Some tracks include field recordings of birds and frogs and life that offer the album a complicated and vibrant energy. “Part of the time I was traveling was during the pandemic, so it was a very isolating experience,” she says.
Trash was largely written during Cone’s travels and then recorded at home. For her, writing music with a band is a much more energetic endeavor. “But if you’re writing by yourself, then you’re like, oh, I’m alone,” she explains. “So it points me in the direction of being more introspective, sometimes. And [in this case], being far away from home, being in isolation during the pandemic, and also being somewhere super different. I think all of those things really affected me.”
As for the album’s closing track, “Temporary Lover,” Cone describes the song as “a puzzle of feelings and situations.” “I really wanted the song to be relatable,” she says. “I think we live in a world where dating is really complex now, and there are lots of nontraditional relationships. I wanted the song to be relatable to anyone who feels lonely in a world where love seems disposable.”
Despite some of the difficult topics Cone broaches—the erasure of trans people, loneliness, grief—she wants her music to be a place where people can come to feel good.
“The world is crazy and we all have complicated stories and lives, but sometimes music helps me get out of my head, and it also helps me understand my feelings better,” she says. “For me, music is expression and catharsis and escapism! I love how sometimes I don’t fully understand my feelings until I’m writing lyrics about something. That happened a lot when I was writing this album.”
As far as what’s next, Cone has been working on new music quite different from Trash. “I’m going to keep changing,” she says. “My music is going to keep changing a lot. So this is just like a snapshot of a really important and cute and beautiful and complex part of my life.”
SEE IT: Bijoux Cone’s vinyl release party with Ghost Feet and Queen Rodeo is at the Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663, dougfirlounge.com. 9 pm Wednesday Sept 27. $15. 21+.