video premiere: Tōth – Copilot
We're honored to debut the achingly beautiful new song and video from Brooklyn songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex Toth, aka Tōth. Directed & shot by Jake Saner, the video is an intensely surreal and haunting visual intepretation of Tōth's stunning new single "Copilot", in which chilling, alternately lush/windswept sonics ebb and flow around the heartbreakingly bittersweet lyrical refrain, "just admit you’re a butterfly / you were just waiting for your wings to dry." Tōth tells us the song is about "facing the devastating loss of that person most important to you with some sort of acceptance and gratitude rather than the more conventional 'you did me wrong' vibe." He continues:
“It was the first of many songs that came to me in the most emotional time of my life, after the breakup of a partner I’d been through a lot of hard and beautiful times with. Very luckily I’d just gotten off a meditation retreat and during this time my practice was to be with the loss/grief directly without getting as much into mental obsession/ego stories which—judging by how intense the pure grief was—would’ve probably destroyed me! Instead, I got to work through it with these songs that just kept coming.
Sonically I wanted the record to be direct and sparse and have minimal bells and whistles. Though there’s definitely some whistling and lushness throughout haha. My love of artists like Arthur Russell, Sybille Baier, and Brian Wilson definitely come through here. As well as some of my background as a bebop jazz trumpet player.
"Copilot" is officially out tomorrow via Northern Spy / Figureight. Tōth will be supporting Diet Cig + Rubblebucket this fall, check those dates below.
9/17: Brooklyn, NY @ Wonders of Nature^
9/26: New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge~
11/4: Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom*
11/6: Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom*
11/7: San Francisco, CA @ August Hall*
11/9: Seattle, WA @ Neumos*
11/10: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
11/12: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory#
11/13: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge#
11/14: Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre#
11/16: Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line#
11/17: Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge#
* supporting Rubblebucket & Diet Cig
# supporting Rubblebucket
^ with Larkin Grimm
~ with Gabriella Cohen