LOVE DOLL by Toni Dear

The songs in LOVE DOLL are all produced versions of short vocal loops that I had made on my Boss loop pedal in the summer of 2018. I hadn't put much thought into these loops; they were merely a byproduct of my time learning how to use the loop pedal for another project. Yet, the results of this spontaneous and free-form experimentation pleased and excited me. It was as if I was discovering things about myself I would never have conceived. Happy accidents that end up having the potency and immediacy of deep emotions stirring within me, and consequently revealing a kind of honestly and purity that I found incredibly liberating. I developed and produced these entirely vocal sketches into fully realized electronic/sampled instrumentation that stayed true to the recursive nature of the original loops, with some structural liberties taken to keep the songs interesting when it was needed. After the music was down, I proceeded to record the vocals using the same process I had when recording the original loops: no lyrics, no plan, just stream of consciousness melody and emotion on the fly, jamming with my voice, as if speaking in tongues. A lot of the recordings are first takes with immediate overdubs to capture harmonies, call and response, and doubling without loosing the general memory of the syllabic lead voicings I had spontaneously recorded. The result is something raw, dirty, imperfect - some could even say underdeveloped; however, it is as honest, pure, and animalistic an expression I can execute at this time in my artistic life. I hope you feel and hear whatever it is you need to within the uncertain fluidity of my unfettered creative environment. With Love, Toni <3

I make noises with computers and some instruments but primarily with my mouth :P