Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz have a special bond. Growing up in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the two were fast and unshakable friends through sleepovers, school choir practices, and discovering formative bands, to the point that now, as roommates in Brooklyn, they finish each other’s sentences. This shared history and obvious love for each other are tangible in their songwriting project Toledo, named after the Spanish town and Álvarez’s familial namesake.
On Toledo’s latest “Flake”, the Brooklyn duo skillfully bottle up years of angst and frustration into a deceptively breezy package. The thick, steady bassline and compressed drums create a warmth like a faithful fall sweater there to dampen the underlying harsh realizations expressed through the song’s storytelling. “Flake” is off Toledo’s upcoming debut LP How It Ends, out Sept. 23.
The new single traces the path to finding yourself from beneath the weight of generational trauma. Ending with a resolute decision to not look back, refusing to venture back into the fray of a fraught and painful relationship with a parent who will continue to cause you harm, they sing “and I could take the hand that you’re reaching out / but you’d only disappoint / you did it then / you’ll do it now.”
