Jonathan Mahler – also known as Trusty Sea Creatures – was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. He was curious from a young age about music and musical instruments, pretending to play guitar as a tiny child and eagerly taking part in music-filled family gatherings. In 2018, a chance meeting led to one of these self-released EPs catching the ear of a recent Tacoma transplant, producer/mixer Jamie Hill (Chris Bathgate, Jens Lekman). Hill and his wife, singer-songwriter Shannon Curtis, marshaled support from within their community of followers to gift Mahler the recordings that would end up becoming Trusty Sea Creatures' debut album, Running Through the Trees. Hill and Mahler started working on Running Through the Trees in early March, 2020, a process that was almost immediately disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not to be deterred, Hill helped Mahler build a Pro Tools recording system on his laptop, compatible with the system in Hill's studio. Hill then remotely produced the album via Dropbox and email, first walking Mahler through recording and sculpting his parts at home, and then adding overdubs and mixing it in his studio. The result is a finished album that has only once seen the two of them in the same room. Mahler lives in Tacoma with his wife and son.