In February 2021, Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist Robin Hatch was informed of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to record on the famed T.O.N.T.O synthesizer at the National Music Gallery in Calgary. With only 4 days in the studio to record, Hatch emerged with a halting masterwork that shares a name with it’s progenitor: T.O.N.T.O.
A conscious attempt to exorcise deep-seated baggage, T.O.N.T.O. was a self-imposed challenge to sit and ruminate on awful feelings and meditate on their place in ourselves. As a composer, Robin’s mission is to transmute painful ugly experiences like psychosis, post-traumatic stress, delusion, and hallucinating voices, into Lovecraftian minimalist electronica. The results speak volumes without uttering a word, creating a living landscape within which we find the capacity to confront and sit with the deepest roots of ourselves. Rhythmic waves of synths create movement in our pathways creating neural sensations to challenge our perceptions of ourselves. At times frantic and arresting and others in pleasing comfort, T.O.N.T.O. is an honest and raw interpretation of the id within us all.
The work on T.O.N.T.O. is a branching path on the expanse of Robin Hatch’s career to date. Her unparalleled talent and mind-bending capacity to innovate within the limitless space of her creative force lives in full display. In addition to herself, T.O.N.T.O. also includes Eric Slick (Dr. Dog) and Leland Whitty (BadBadNotGood) on “Brazil”, doom metal violinist Laura Bates (Volur) on “Airplane,” drummer Lowell Whitty on “Inspector”, Nick Thorburn (Islands) on “Mockingbird,” and saxophonist Joseph Shabason on “The Standoff”. Mixed by Carlin Nicholson (Zeus, Bahamas), and mastered by Robert Margouleff (Stevie Wonder, DEVO, Oingo Boingo), T.O.N.T.O. is out on October 29th, 2021 on LP, CD and digital.
Robin Hatch – T.O.N.T.O.
October 29th, 2021 – Robin Records
1. Buttercups
2. Brazil (feat. Eric Slick & Leland Whitty)
3. Airplane (feat. Laura Bates)
4. Mockingbird (feat. Nick Thorburn)
5. Inspector (feat. Lowell Whitty)
6. My Lucid Mind
7. Rest Stop
8. The Standoff (feat. Joseph Shabason)
9. Water
All songs composed, produced and performed by Robin Hatch.
