YHHF! Vol. 11: Let TOVA's Pedestal wash over you
The auteur-musician has returned with sounds of ache and acceptance
Big Talk: Let TOVA’s Pedestal wash over you
TOVA’s music is born of a serious dedication to the craft and abiding patience in getting the best possible quality out. When we first spoke shortly after the release of his first single, “Fleeting,” in August, he explained the rationale behind his process. “My process is almost a search for perfection but with that comes the innate acceptance that perfection, sometimes, is not always possible to attain. It just has to be perfect enough for what the original vision was; sometimes, the vision changes.”
His vision for detailing ache with precise song-writing and complementing it with acceptance is present on Pedestal, his debut E.P. that whispers and grooves and shakes with artistic candor. If “Fleeting” was the first dip into the pool, Pedestal sees TOVA take a dive in the deep end, showing a musician capable of creating music and moodscapes to match his creations as the drowning depths of “Xenos” prove.
The rigour that allowed Pedestal be an actual experience from back to front starts from its first seconds to the last note we hear on here. The experiences here, a fusion of autobiographical detail and creative license, lend weight to TOVA’s ability to bend feelings and words into aural gems that will live with you far beyond when you hear his music.
Our conversation, lightly edited for context and clarity, follows below
How've you been since we last spoke?
Since we last spoke, which I believe was in the summer, there's been a ton of work, recording songs on the E.P., putting out the E.P., and preparing for the new year. (Figuring out) What that's going to sound like sonically, the directions that we're hoping to pursue; but, it's been a fun experience and I'm definitely better for it.
When we spoke then, how far into the process of making the E.P. were you?
When we spoke, we'd recorded some of the tracks for the project. Actually, we'd recorded probably three out of five tracks for the E.P. We knew where or what it was supposed to sound like sonically. But there's always a difference that exists between a vision on paper and the implementation of it. But where we were was working towards the implementation of the vision we had for the E.P.
What was the vision, where was it at that time?
The vision was to, as much as possible, distill the sound that I wanted to create into the most accessible format that still remained true to my ambition. Where it was at that time was...the first song, "Pedestal," the idea for it came to me first in August of 2019 and I first got to work on it in December of 2019 and it took about four years for the entire project to materialize. Pedestal was something I had the privilege of sitting on for a long period of time; fine-tuning the entire thing sonically to reflect the stories we wanted to tell the people.
I really loved the opener, "Pedestal," how did that come by?
With "Pedestal," we wanted to tell a story and the title was one of those things that has a very obvious meaning. When you say something is a pedestal, you obviously mean that you're putting someone on top of a pedestal that is immediately apparent. The thesis of the song is how you react when the people you looked up to, you idolize, disappoint you, and that's something that people will almost inevitably experience because human beings, with all the lovely things about them, are flawed. Occasionally the people you look up to and admire are going to disappoint you and that's what "Pedestal' is about. Another thing that is present, maybe to a less conspicuous degree, is that this person is atop a pedestal and you yourself are the pedestal that this person is on top of in that you've subjugated yourself, you've made yourself the base with which you exalt this person. We start the song from a point where we're looking at this person and admiring the pedestal that we are and, at the end, this person is no longer on top of the pedestal, we're looking at this person for all that they are. For the flaws that they come with because at the end of the day they are what they are and we need to accept that for them instead of the perfect individuals that we might have started the experience viewing them as. Some parts of the song are autobiographical, but another thing about the E.P. was to remove myself (from the conversation) when necessary and tell the stories that needed to be told. It was important for me to tell the stories of what happens when the people we look up to the most disappoint us, how do we deal with that?
How much of creating the feel of that song goes beyond even just your vocals, with reference to the production work, it feels subtle, but it accentuates the essence of "Pedestal?"
Working on "Pedestal," I was privileged to have the support of my frequent co-collaborators. They, more than most people I know, are best able to listen to the idea I have and give the kind of direction necessary for the idea to come out the best way it could and when you look at the production for "Pedestal," more than most of the other songs on the E.P., this one is laid-back production-wise. But that is important because we wanted to give the track room to breathe and keep the production minimalist as it was on that track. That production allowed the vocals to stand out the way I hoped they did for people who listened to the record. I'm just privileged to have very talented people that once they hear the idea, they get what we're going for and are able to bring it to life. It's of equal importance that the more music we've been making, the less concerned I am about what kind of chord we're using or what not. I mean, the chords, the production, all of that, it's nice to have but if it doesn't make me feel the things that I want to make others feel when they listen to the record then it doesn't help the song at all. All these things are tools, they are not the end goal itself, the end goal of making the music is to make people feel something and the production is a tool for accomplishing that goal. As we make more music, it becomes more apparent for me and makes me focused on what the feeling we're trying to accomplish is and less what the coolest thing we can do is. If you focus too much on making music that can be construed as gimmicky, there'll be a time and point when that gimmick gets old but something that will never get old is songs that are able to evoke specific feelings and that's always my end goal.
I also loved how "Pedestal" flowed into "Signal" too, was that a deliberate thing?
Almost everything, if not everything on this project, was deliberate. For that transition from "Pedestal" into "Signal," both sonically and story-wise, it was intentional. This E.P. was designed to be easy listening from start to end because of the objective of creating a sonic environment that can capture the listeners and hopefully keep them engaged until the final second of the final track. That was something that was important when we were working on the production for these tracks which was kind of difficult because some songs, like "Signal," evolved a lot. The first draft of "Signal," is fairly different from what it ended up sounding like. But there was always something at the back of our minds to create a sonic environment that is immersive and I'm happy with what we were able to create.
How hard is it to create that sonic environment you speak of, considering the emotional acuity of your subject matter?
On some days, it's fairly easy. What usually happened was that, like with "Signal" for example, the first idea came to me as I was at someplace and there were a lot of people there and I was on the piano, just playing around. The feeling came to me as I was playing and I liked it, I liked it a lot. Then, I decided, in 2018, that this was something I was going to try to get on. But then, I didn't know if I was ever going to do music; so, when it became time to finally do the E.P., to do Pedestal, and we decided that "Signal" was a song we wanted to put on there. I was just playing around with the sounds and when I found a sound that made me feel the way I wanted to feel thinking about people listening to "Signal," I can often identify that it is something I get. Sometimes, it can take me sampling 40 or 50 pianos or several instruments. Other times, I just go on and it's the first one I pick and I know that that's it. So, on occasion it's difficult, on other occasions, less so. It goes back to creating sounds that evoke the kind of emotions that we want them to evoke and I am fortunate that when I listen to these songs hundreds, potentially thousands, of times, they still evoke for me the emotions that they did when I first conceived of them and that makes me very happy.
What do you feel having the project out?
A large degree of satisfaction to be able to finish a project, to see to the conclusion of an idea from start to end, it's immensely satisfying to be able to go on Spotify, Apple Music, what have you, and it's right there. It's complete. There's also an immense feeling of relief, not just for me, but for a lot of the people who waited on the project, especially for my collaborators. For many of these tracks, "Slippin'" for example, it had 13 versions, 13 mixes and when we finally were finished we still went back and changed a couple of things here and there but now it's done, it's out. There's relief that we can't fiddle with it any longer but we're also quite proud of the work that we've done and the stories we've told. I wanted to make music that someone like me could listen to, whether it be on a drive or just chilling in my room in the dark and I'm happy that I did that as far as I'm concerned.