Tag: Tonoso Hide

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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 duo’s full-length debut Artificial Dreams is slated for release later this year. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of this year, you might recall that I’ve written about two of the Los Angeles-based duo’s previously released singles:

  • “Hide,” a lush and breezy single that paired organic instrumentation with atmospheric electronic production paired with Grabb’s yearning and plaintive vocals. But underneath the breezy infectiousness was a brooding quality.
  • “Friction” a woozy and wistful single featuring glistening and oscillating synths, skittering beats and Grabb’s plaintive vocals that reminded 7 a bit of Seoul‘s I Became A Shade and Beacon and others to mind. 

“Hyperstimulated,” Tonoso’s third single of the year is a hook-driven club banger featuring enormous bass drops, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, glistening synth arpeggios, samples of shimmering strings and alarm clocks paired with Grabb’s plaintive vocals and a distorted vocal sample to create a dense feeling of sensory overload. While sonically bearing a resemblance to 90s house and In Ghost Colours era Cut Copy, the song as the duo explains is informed by our instant gratification-fueled, social media world: “We live in a world on constant dopamine hits, never ending phone notifications, endless amount of streaming content, all while trying not to lose yourself to the infinite,” the duo explain.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Rising, 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. And since their formation, the duo have developed and honed a unique take on contemporary electronic music centered around a cinematic and compositional sensibility.

Interestingly, the Los Angeles-based electronic 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.

In the meantime, the duo’s latest single, the lush “Hide” features a 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.

“Our main intention was to create a driving syncopated rhythm section that
beautifully contrasts with luscious textures and hypnotic melodies,” the Los Angeles duo explain. “The lyrics, while seemingly dark and mysterious, are meant to be interpreted by the listener.”