Friday 5th August Luxembourg-Based Indie Electronic Artist Tobisonics releases his debut LP ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ on an exclusive early release via Bandcamp [Official Release Friday 7th October All Platforms].

Never intended to be autobiographical, but rather an exploration of the imperative of optimism; Tobi gradually realized ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ was, in truth, about the lessons he had learned during his ongoing recovery from chronic depression/anxiety and PTSD, and the lessons he was still trying to learn.

“I wanted to make an album that said, the worse things get, the more we need to find the wonder in life. In doing so, I ended up talking about my own journey from a dead-end life to my debut LP.”

‘We Need Light in the Dark’ came together over a period of 15 fraught months; Tobi pushed himself to higher standards musically and technically, while enduring, terrible mood swings as memories and feelings he had buried deep inside himself were dredged up and exposed, raw and ever-painful.

“I was a mess during the making of ‘We Need Light in the Dark’. I wasn’t sleeping much and when I did sleep, it was only for a few hours. 9 months into it, and I’d tripled my anti-anxiety dosage just to get through the day.”

When the initial intention to build upon the collaboration with Wee Scots Poet quickly proved unworkable; Tobi instead fell back on what he had first tried with his debut single, ‘All These Things’, concocting the lyrics from a ragtag assortment of Vocal loops, B-Movie Quotes, and Vocoders.

“It’s liberating to express myself through other voices. I can hide in plain sight. The subjects I touch upon in ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ are so personal, so painful, I could never find words for them in my own head.”

Having spent his increasingly volatile teenage years in a series of awful/awesome indie guitar bands; music fell away in Tobi’s early 20s, as he wrestled with his, as yet undiagnosed, mental health problems. By his mid-30s, Tobi felt trapped, evermore socially isolated, every turn leading to thoughts of suicide. A last roll-of-the-dice appointment with a Psychiatrist finally led to regular therapy sessions and medication. Tobi found himself flooded with years of repressed emotions and the music fell out of him. The slow grind of his recovery and music-making evolved together.

Nominated Radio WigWam Best Electro Act 2021, Tobi’s music has been played by DJ Tobi Lynn of Amazing Radio US, featured in Fresh on the Net’s Fresh Faves [Batch 390], as well as attracting the attention of Abbie McCarthy [BBC Radio 1] “Enjoyed listening to this, ace production 👏🏼” and Jaguar [BBC Intro Dance Radio 1/Mix mag] “This is everything. I want more.”

“I hear a lot of music that is so easy to consume, it’s like sonic wallpaper. I want to make music that demands attention, that provokes a reaction.”

‘Panic’ is out on all platforms Friday 5th August; the opening track of Tobi’s debut LP, ‘We Need Light in the Dark’; an exploration of the lessons learned by Tobi during his ongoing recovery and the lessons he is still trying to learn. ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ is out on an exclusive early release via Bandcamp on Friday 5th August and out on all platforms on Friday 7th October.


**The Story of We Need Light in the Dark**

While promoting “All The Little Things”, Tobi began work on what was intended to be a 4-track EP building on the collaboration with Wee Scots Poet [with “All The Little Things” the title track]. The collaboration, however, quickly proved unworkable; the two Artists on opposite trajectories, Wee Scots Poet troubled and frustrated; Tobi determined to project positivity out into the universe.

The experience of “All The Little Things” had been bittersweet for Tobi; while loved by many, a significant number had barely hidden their contempt; and their contempt was aimed squarely at Tobi’s production. As a result, Tobi felt compelled to assert his own artistic voice like never before. And so he returned to the collage-like form of songwriting, he had first tried with his debut single, “All These Things”. Lyrics were pulled together from assorted Vocal Loops, B-Movie Quotes, and Vocoders.

“It’s liberating to express myself through other voices. I can hide in plain sight. The subjects I touch upon in ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ are so personal, so painful, I could never find words for them in my own head.”

Though still intended to be a 4-track EP [now without “All The Little Things”], the title of the EP had been changed to “We Need Light in the Dark”. Tobi wanted to explore the imperative of optimism; the idea that, the worse life gets, the more necessary it is to find the wonder in it. And although, ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ stayed true to this intention, the intuitive nature of piecing together the recycled vocals meant that a far more personal theme crept up on Tobi.

A few months into the production, Tobi realized that he was talking about the lessons he had learned during his own ongoing recovery from chronic depression/anxiety and PTSD, and the lessons he was still struggling to learn. Tobi suffered terrible mood swings throughout the production, as memories and feelings he had buried deep inside himself were dredged up and exposed, raw and ever-painful.

“I was a mess during the making of ‘We Need Light in the Dark’. I wasn’t sleeping much and when I did, it was only a few hours at a time. 9 months into it, and I’d tripled my anti-anxiety dosage just to get through the day.”

Tobi’s previous four singles had all been mixed by the same mix engineer; Tobi considered him an important part of the Tobisonics sound, moreover, he felt ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ was the culmination of the previous two year’s work; so when a series of unavoidable delays meant the mix engineer could not work on the EP, Tobi’s emotions and the project itself were held in an increasingly unbearable state of limbo. Despite his deteriorating mood, Tobi used the delay to address, what he felt was an unfinished picture with the 4-track EP, the lack of darkness to contrast the light. Three new tracks were added to the now 7-track LP [‘Scream’, ‘Snakes’, and ‘All I Ever wanted’], each reflecting Tobi’s own rawer more fractured emotional state.

As weeks stretched into months, contact with the mix engineer become more sporadic, and Tobi’s attempts to find a replacement mix engineer came to nothing, Tobi reluctantly took on the task of mixing the LP himself. Though an experienced Mastering Engineer, Tobi had hardly mixed anything in three years; racked with self-doubt and fear of failure, Tobi engaged in a daily fight just to keep a clear head.

“I was so scared I was going to screw it up. Luckily, the three-month gap between production and mixing helped me hear the tracks with a fresh perspective”

July 2022, and finishing the mix/master of ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ has left Tobi burned out; but with the year quickly slipping away, and the release schedule already heavily compromised by the delays, Tobi had to set a release date and begin work on promotion and content creation. Not for the first time in the creation of ‘We Need Light in the Dark’, Tobi made a rod for his own back, in deciding to release both the first single, ‘Panic’ and the debut LP itself on the same day; ‘Panic’ would be released across all platforms, and the LP only on Bandcamp as an exclusive early release. This meant twice the work needed to create promotional material and social content, in an already condensed timeframe.

‘Panic’ the first single from Tobi’s debut LP ‘We Need Light in the Dark’ is out Friday 5th August on all platforms with the LP also out the same day via Bandcamp as an exclusive early release. The LP will be out on all platforms Friday 7th October.