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· Conor Welsch
TOLEDO have always lived in quiet spaces - bedrooms, beach towns, the liminal zones between youth and adulthood. With their new EP Tall Kids, the Brooklyn-based duo stretch those spaces outward without losing the intimacy that’s defined their sound since the beginning. This is TOLEDO at their most composed, most emotionally clear, and - perhaps most importantly - most confident.
Tall Kids doesn’t reinvent TOLEDO’s sonic language - it refines it. The EP is filled with gentle guitars, reverb-draped vocals, and subtle rhythmic flourishes that nod toward both slowcore and folk-pop. But where earlier releases flirted with lo-fi haze, this one feels more deliberate, more cinematically sparse.
The production is crisp without being clinical. There’s space in every mix: acoustic guitars breathe, harmonies stack with intention, and moments of silence hit just as hard as any chorus. It’s a study in restraint, and it suits the material.
TOLEDO’s strength has always been in small details. On Tall Kids, they turn inward again - grappling with the insecurities and minor triumphs of adulthood with a tone that’s more observational than dramatic.
“Tall Kids” plays like a tone-setter: wry, quietly anxious, and full of unresolved questions. “Amends” wrestles with communication breakdown and forgiveness, all within a hushed, gliding progression. “When He Comes Around” brings a darker emotional palette - less lyrical catharsis, more atmospheric weight. And “Zelda” closes the EP on a note of gentle melancholy, folding memory into melody with a soft, natural grace.
These aren’t songs built to explode - they unfold, shift, and settle into you.
Vocally, TOLEDO’s harmonies continue to be their secret weapon. Think early Shins or Simon & Garfunkel, run through a filter of East Coast humidity and mid-20s malaise. Their arrangements are minimal but not bare - often built from just a few guitar lines, a rim-shot beat, and some synth undercurrents that feel more felt than heard.
And yet, despite their restraint, there’s growth here. A better sense of pacing. A willingness to let a song unfold on its own time. You don’t feel the clock ticking - you feel the air shifting.
Tall Kids won’t raise TOLEDO’s profile overnight, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a quietly assured step forward - one that deepens their catalog and sharpens their vision.
In an era of maximalism, TOLEDO make music for listeners who want to lean in. Their storytelling is human-sized, but the emotional scale is massive.
For Fans Of: Hovvdy, Andy Shauf, Pinegrove, Lomelda