When you first hear the works of Placerville artist and musician Daniel Trudeau, you may stop to tilt your head a moment, musing, while trying to figure out just what exactly it is you’re hearing.

His explosion of noises, beats and tunes, repeated through loop pedals, creates a most unique sound. “Most people have really specific ears and stick to one genre of music while I incorporate many,” Trudeau says. “I’m trying to create a utopian ear amongst my listeners.”

More than 10 years ago as a teenager, Trudeau would sit in his room mixing and remixing computer tracks of electronic music and sounds. With no formal training, he continued to teach himself more traditional acoustic instruments and soon added those sounds into the mix. Somewhere in the midst of his exploration, with the help of his brother, Matt, on bass guitar, the band Pregnant was born. “I was this crazy musician dude,” Trudeau admits. “Not knowing what I was doing at all and just experimenting with music.”

The informal recipe consists of using loops (a repeating section of sound material), keyboards, shakers, saxophone, melodic guitar, vocals, and any sort of gadget or “thingamajig.” If Trudeau finds it makes music, he tries to incorporate it into a track. With four albums, the artist often takes his organic loop pedal project and DJ sets on the road, performing in local venues such as Cozmic Café, Sacramento’s Bows & Arrows and as far as Nevada City and Los Angeles; as well, he takes on the role of producer for other electronic artists who don’t have the means to create their music.

The sight of the endearing, often smiling 27-year-old is juxtaposed when paired with the name Pregnant; however, for the young father, the word holds more than the traditional meaning. “Pregnant comes from the process of making any art. You need to meet it [and] get to know it,” Trudeau explains. “Then you conceive and give birth…it’s a process.” For Trudeau, that inspiration comes from all the modern-day hardships and menial stress ordinary people have to deal with, in contrast to those whose job it is to make art. “You wouldn’t think it would be inspiring but it is. I think slaves could make better music than a king,” Trudeau shares. “When you finally get that little window of free time to practice your art, you’re stoked!”

A local, Trudeau feels blessed to have grown up in an area with such an open and accepting community, especially in comparison to the bigger cities he’s experienced. The young and the old mingle together here, and with so many artists there’s an array of understanding about the challenges of creating.

“So many people want to move to these specific art communities and metropolitan areas, but nobody thinks of these small towns in between where there’s so much diversity in arts and culture,” Trudeau says. “There’s something special that comes from all these ‘wood’ kids...and I feel proud to represent this town.”

Visit danielispregnant.com for more information.