Los Angeles-based electronic duo Tonoso — Jacob Grabb and Paul Salerno — met in high school jazz band and started working together in earnest back in 2018. Since their formation, the duo have developed and honed a unique take on contemporary electronic music centered around a cinematic and compositional sensibility.
The Los Angeles-based duo’s music can be heard in a number of different media, including the award-winning film Summertime and the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077. The duo hope to continue upon that momentum with the release of their full-length debut Artificial Dreams later this year.
Earlier this year, I wrote about “Hide,” a lush single that featured a slick blend of organic instrumentation including live drumming, glistening, reverb-drenched guitar, a sinuous bass line paired with an ethereal and deliberately crafted and breezy production centered around driving, skittering beats, atmospheric synth arpeggios and chopped up vocals. The production is roomy enough for Jacob Grabb’s plaintive and yearning vocals to be interwoven within the lush mix — but while adding a brooding quality to the song.
The duo’s latest single, the woozy and wistful “Fiction” continues a run of ethereal and slickly produced indie electro pop centered around glistening and oscillating synths and skittering beats paired with Grabb’s plaintive vocals and a razor sharp, infectious hook — and in a way brings Seoul‘s I Became A Shade, Beacon and others to mind.
But as the Los Angeles-based duo explain in press notes, “Fiction” . . .”is a song about the narratives we create while dealing with loss, broken relationships and heartbreak. Ruminating over what could have been done differently, and how if only I had say “this or that” the heartbreak could have been avoided.
“‘Fiction’ is an indie-dance track with a blend or vintage/retro and modern production. Soaked in lush analog synth pads and ethereal sound design textures, ‘Fiction’ takes you on a journey through your fictional dreams and justifications.”
