A Los Angeles native, Tony DV is a producer and artist who has dedicated recent years to facilitating others’ visions (Laura Elliott, WHATMORE’s Yoshi T and Jackson August, and the Frank Ocean co-signed Simpson).

However, he found unlikely inspiration for his own music in the LA River. “Most assume the LA River is manmade,” he explains, “it is not. Its current concrete form is the result of humans trying to improve it. Like a bee building a hive, it’s our nature to fortify, eternalize. But what is our responsibility now that we’ve completely dominated the natural world? Does being a good person mean living in opposition of our instincts?”

This observation provided the spark for I know trash people who keep the oceans clean, his debut album out January 28.