TOTONOKO by TOTONOKO

These songs were recorded over the space of a few summer and winter months in Silverlake, Los Angeles, by Oakland-based duo TOTONOKO and engineer/co-producer Daniel Wright. This was a period of time characterized by long drives, great attention to birdsong, various nights spent on various floors and various bright mornings thereafter, and a good amount of laughter. What resulted is traveling music, bird music, night music, new music, joyful music.
Deeply informed by the inhertance of a world made increasingly smaller (Mateo Lugo was born in Venezuela and Nika Aila States spent her childhood in Germany) and by a shared love of both traditional and non-traditional music forms, the duo cites a heady range of influences, from Neil Young and Nina Simone to Radiohead and Sigur Ros, all the way over to Iannis Xenakis and John Cage. Armed also with a profound appreciation for the words of Woody Guthrie, Octavio Paz, and Marcel Proust, with an eye to the brilliant spectacle of everyday life, the pair have written and performed a collection of music that is as rich lyrically as it is sonically. Enduring harmonies are backed by strong guitars and a host of vivid sounds collected from the studio and from the streets. Present here are not just two strong voices, but also the intermittent hiss of a tape-recorder, the chatter both of Venice Beach and Silverlake birds, the hard work of roofers in the canyon, and childhood encounters with the ocean.
In a thoughtful but sweeping debut, TOTONOKO have excavated a striking landscape populated by cherished ghosts, curious dreams, and the promise both of rich toil and well-earned warmth. A simple folk song asks a difficult question, and a stranger tune boils down just to this: the noise we make.

TOTONOKO is the partnership of Mateo Lugo and Nika Aila States. Drawing on international and interdisciplinary influences (Venezuelan-born Lugo is heavily involved in dance and German-raised States splits her time between music and photography), their sounds are about hope regained, underwater currents, and the search for home

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