Today, the Los Angeles singer-songwriter Tony DV shares two new tracks “Agatha” and “Felicia,” as well as a mesmerizing fpv drone video for “Agatha.” Listen to both singles HERE.

Tony DV draws out genuine pathos and carves out ebbs of unexpected empathy — hitting on a sound that attains an ornate bigness and distinct character without any sense of overwrought contrivance. It’s lived-in, direct, and textured with compositional intrigue and philosophical heft. On “Agatha,” skeletal piano pop finds a middle ground between Joe Jackson and Lou Reed, while “Felicia” is an uncluttered bit of grey day longing and deceptive songwriting sophistication. 

Of the tracks, Tony says, “These songs were conceived in opposite ways. ‘Agatha’ was built off a freestyle I did in a writing session for another artist. The main piano, guitar, and drum layers were recorded in an hour or so at my home studio. Courtesy of my dear friend Alessandro Buccellati and a bottle of Alessandro Viola wine. ‘Felicia’ was the first song I started and the last song I finished for Pig. It took many months and bang-you-head-against-the-wall solo recording sessions to finally find this version.”
 

Watch the official video for “Agatha” here
 

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).

On his debut album from last year I know trash people who keep the oceans clean, co-produced by Tony DV and Simon Gooding (Fazerdaze, Balu Brigada), Tony DV harnessed seam-splitting idiosyncrasies through analog sonics. The single “Personal Satellite” has reached over 100k listens on Spotify alone, and is still growing. Watch the FLOOD Neighborhoods session, set to the backdrop of the LA River. As Atwood Magazine put it, however, Tony DV arrived as “an artist who already feels fully formed” upon his debut.

Tony’s songwriting often suggests Damon Albarn in melancholy balladeer mode, doing an original song for the Dune soundtrack, and at other times, he’s more Bob Dylan-esque, or sometimes even Coldplay at it’s best. Moody and melodic, his economical folk-rock melodies a la Andy Shauf or the glistening melancholia of Travis imbibe a joyful exhortation to growing up while still extending love to the kid-like, naive side of oneself and others. Today’s releases and the music to follow digs deeper into that sound, often exploring darker and more distorted corners. More to come from Tony DV this fall.