Indie Music: TOIGO "We've Got Tonight to Leave Me Broken"

by Germar Derron

When I was a kid, we played a game based on music video premieres from new artists. Based on look alone, we would try to guess genre, sound, instrument, etc. We believed that most times, in music, you could judge a book by its cover. Enter TOIGO:

Easy money. All black. Big hair. Big dude. He's about to scream into a mic or spit hot venom. And like TOIGO, or a night in Vegas, we leave broken. 

"We've Got Tonight to Leave Me Broken," and the second song from the dual music video release, "Another Shade of Blue, " both align with the TOIGO visual by offering something contrary to what may be expected. This project seems to be mostly about contrast, binaries, or maybe choice. Blue pill or red pill?

On Tonight, who is the subject? A love interest? Or does he sing to the city that never sleeps? The bass--and guitar rhythms--on the verse, lean heavily into a western theme, or the desert. Like Vegas? Or like any situation that may be tempting and potentially risky. 

Alternative or pop? Yes. Yes it is. The melody, chorus, and vocal treatment recall synth-y 80s pop, but the rest of the track borrows from an oddly more traditional future. Meanwhile--in the video--the big guy, with the big hair, meanders and strums an acoustic guitar. Go figure.

These tracks, presented in sequence, mimic the Matrix-y pill choice presented in the video. Red, on Tonight, like that Vegas desert, represents reality. Blue . . . well blue is literally in the title, "Another Shade of Blue." On Blue, TOIGO sings dreamily of meaning and always dreaming.  Everything that works on Tonight explodes onto Blue. 

In keeping with the thoughts and dreams of an ideal and maybe unrealistic past, Blue smothers the senses in that nostalgia wave introduced on Tonight. And though this is no competition, it's blue pill for me.

Plus, I've experienced a rough week in Vegas. I'm good.