Tora Luna consider themselves more a collaborative collective than a traditional band. Avoiding the culture of A.I. perfectionism, the group embraces the organic songwriting and recording process, warts and all. To move even further away from the comforts of technology, the songwriting duo of Alex Broadgate and Dominic Johnson went out in the UK countryside to record in producer Gus White’s barn. One of the results of this session was the excellent new single “Wait for Spring”.
Tora Luna took some time to discuss with us the writing process of the song
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THE INDY REVIEW: For those unfamiliar with your group, how did Tora Luna first form and how has your creative collaboration grown and changed since forming?
ALEX BROADGATE: Tora Luna started a couple of years ago as my (Alex Broadgate) artist project/alias. I was sitting on a lot of unreleased music and never really felt comfortable with the idea of being the face of it all, as there’s a lot of pressure and expectation that comes with being an artist now, especially from a social media perspective. Plus, the music itself was always highly collaborative. Although I often came up with the initial idea, there would be various performers, songwriters, singers, producers and mixing engineers involved throughout. So it felt more accurate to call the project a creative collective or group.
The earliest tracks were written, recorded and performed by myself and Joshua Kime. We met whilst studying at the University of Huddersfield where Josh produced my final year project (an album consisting of six original tracks). Then post-COVID, I moved to London and started writing regularly with Dominic Johnson, after meeting at an Ivors Academy Christmas Party/networking event. Before long, we had a handful of songs that we were really proud of and Dom suggested working with Gus White, who he knew from Uni, as they both studied at Goldsmiths University.
I suppose the short answer, when it comes to “Wait For Spring”, is that the song was written by Alex and Dom and produced by Gus White in his residential studio out in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside. Dom sings lead vocals and plays bass, Alex plays guitar and piano and Gus is on the drums.
Regarding how the collaboration has grown and changed since forming…This is something that Dom references quite often – that we’re so appreciative of and flattered by the number of people who are excited by the project and eager to be involved.
In terms of how it comes about…when Dom and I are in the early stages of working on a track, we might say “ooh this would sound great if Anelie added some harmonies in the chorus”, or “it would be cool if Ed doubles the riff in the intro on Sax”, for example. Then we will explore that idea and try to get them involved in the creative process.
A key part of the collective is that each release has its own unique identity and team of people behind it. This really eases the pressure (often applied from the industry) of trying to shoehorn our music into a specific genre or category. We like to think that each song is unique and the common thread is the core group of people behind each Tora Luna release.
IR: I really enjoyed your latest single “Wait for Spring”. Can you discuss what initially sparked the initial inspiration for that song?
AB: Thank you! The song started out as a voice note on my phone called “reggae like guitar loop” – a recording of a syncopated guitar riff in the key of A. You can hear this riff on the rhythm guitar throughout each chorus in the final version of “Wait For Spring”. I showed this idea to Dom and we started layering instrumental ideas on top of it. Dom was quite excited to be using a more textural approach to writing as The Talking Heads did on “Once in a Lifetime”. We had basically all the music finalised before we started the lyrics, which we both found quite challenging as we usually write lyrics first. Or at least, have a lyrical concept in mind. So we had a conversation about what was going on in our lives at the time and what the song could possibly be about. I mentioned that I’d been talking to a friend from work who suffers quite badly from seasonal affective disorder and Dom found this extremely relatable as the cold nights were drawing in at the time (and he was soon to brave the one hour cycle home from my flat, so that must’ve been at the back of his mind). As the music was upbeat and jolly, very Vampire Weekend/Bombay Bicycle Club inspired, we wanted the lyrics to match this. So we decided to go for the approach of writing a song to cheer the person (who was suffering with S.A.D.) up and convince them to come outside and see the world, despite the cold and dark environment. In the end, it became more about supporting somebody through a difficult time.
IR: Is seasonal affective disorder something you struggle with? What made it something you wanted to tackle as a songwriter?
AB: Personally, I don’t believe I suffer from it as I think everywhere looks really beautiful in the Autumn and Winter, and I find the cold air very refreshing. But I think having this as a starting point and reflecting on the conversation I’d had with my friend really helped me to get into the character’s head and ask myself… what would they be doing? What would be the indicators around their home or in their behaviour that gave this away? Which inspired lines such as “stuck in cobweb city, counting tumbleweed in your room” and “when you’ve buried your head in the sand, built a tower of cans and cut your curly locks off”.
DOMINIC JOHNSON: S.A.D. is something that, at the time, I didn’t consider myself to really be affected by but, shortly after writing it, realised I definitely did! And since then I’ve tried to get a bit better at coping by taking more time to rest etc. I think the song probably helped me realise and process this about myself.
IR: The track has a real effervescent rhythm – a bit of Afropop and reggae influence in the indie rock mix. Were there any direct influences that inspired the sound, or was it just the results of experimenting?
AB: I love that word, what a brilliant way to describe it. Gus deserves a lot of credit there as the demo we showed him was quite chilled out, very reminiscent of Mac DeMarco’s “Blue Boy” which is one of my favourite tracks. But Gus thought we could really inject some energy and playfulness by making it more syncopated and adding a cowbell. Vampire Weekend’s sound alongside Paul Simon’s “Graceland” were two other references that we presented to Gus before recording, so I think he did a great job at amplifying their influence in the final version (I’d imagine that’s where the Afrop influence came from). Once we’d agreed on the more energetic, syncopated beat, Dom tried the bassline out on a fretless bass and tweaked the bassline to make it more Graceland-esque and I tried to make the lead guitar line more like something Kanda Bongo Man would play.
IR: You recorded the track in a barn in the countryside. How did that setting affect your performance and the production of the track. Do you think you could have captured it as it is now in a traditional studio?
AB: Short answer to the second question is a definite no, for me. Recording in Gus’ barn is so relaxed, there’s barely anyone around so you can make as much noise as you like. Which is something I’d feel quite conscious of if we were in a more traditional studio and I wouldn’t like the idea that anybody could walk into the control room at any point. I find creating and recording music a very vulnerable experience and I have to feel comfortable and safe with the people that I’m working with. The setting really helps create this sense of being cut off from the outside world. The natural beauty of the surrounding area is the perfect setting for any moments where we hit a bit of a creative block. We often go for long walks through the nearby woods either as a group or alone if you need a moment of solitude to clear your head. In this sense, I think the setting has a hugely positive influence on the music we create with Gus and I’d find it really difficult to go from this setting to a more traditional studio in a city centre. I know music is supposed to be collaborative but, for me, that collaborative group needs to be a closed group of people that you feel really comfortable, familiar and safe working with.
DJ: For me, I think a big part of it isn’t so much the bucolic countryside or anything like that (even though that’s wonderful to enjoy) but just the way that staying together for a weekend, cooking together etc means you’re having conversations about music and there’s all this extra time to think more deeply about the project. Because there really isn’t much else to do at night after the session but go to the pub and chat. Definitely the chats we had about AI music (which had just come on the scene at that time about a year ago) and how we can inject humanity in our music and using technology to help you be more human – all of that affected how we made the track in the end.
IR: How long did “Wait for Spring” take to create, from the initial writing to the final master?
AB: I think it was around 5 months in total. From the first session that Dom and I started layering the guitar parts to the final recording session at Gus’ studio. From November 2023 to the end of April 2024. We like to take our time with the writing and arranging process, then when we think it’s ready we book in some time with Gus and record all the parts in two days.
IR: Will the single be a stand-alone, or part of an upcoming album/EP?
AB: I’d love to release an album eventually, but I feel a lot of internal pressure for an album to have a connecting thread or theme. I feel like we need more time to fully get our head around what that is. It needs to be an album for a reason, not a collection of singles.
However, “Wait For Spring” will be part of our first EP! We plan to release a 5 track EP early next year. Three of the tracks are already written and recorded. The other two have been written and will be recorded with Gus in the next couple of months.
In terms of what the EP will sound like… we are trying to continue to explore more ways to be playful and human with the arranging and recording process. When it comes to the songwriting, we’re becoming more adventurous, writing as different characters, and constantly pulling from wider influences. The instrumental lineup of “Wait For Spring” is actually quite stripped back compared to the other tracks and there will definitely be some tracks on the EP with grander arrangements (including strings, brass and Beach Boys inspired harmonies). Plus there’ll be quite a few features from different vocalists which will really hammer home the collective nature of the project.
IR: What lies ahead for Tora Luna in 2025?
AB: Although Tora Luna was always intended to be a recording only project, I think we will eventually cave and play a few gigs in 2025. Even if they’re just stripped down acoustic versions of the tracks to start off with.
Our first EP will be out early 2025. There’ll hopefully be plenty more trips to Gus’ Barn throughout the year and we will see if we can squeeze in another EP before the end of the year.
We’ll continue to experiment and push ourselves to refine our sonic identity with playfulness and humanity being the focal points. There will be lots of new collaborators, especially featured vocalists. If we can continue to make music that we are proud of and excited by and it gets heard by people that feel something new or relatable when they listen to it, that’s all we can really ask for.
Thank you so much for your kind words about “Wait For Spring” and for taking the time to write about our music. It really means a lot to us!
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Take a listen to “Wait for Spring” in our A Single Sit-Down Playlist!
The Indy Review 