This Friday marks the release of Tōth’s (Alex Toth) debut album, “Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary”, which captures the period of a breakup before the wholeness but after the anger. Picture Of You is the final single to be released – a dreamy alt-pop exploration of how little control we have over what our brain conjures.
“Ironically I had a show on a bill with my ex’s band early on in the birth of Tōth,” he says of the song’s origins. “I wrote this song the day of a show and performed it that same night. It’s sort of a look into how we don’t have control over our thoughts and what the feels like when we are processing loss or trying to get over a person or addiction.”
Accompanying the single is a fun Jasia Kaulbach directed video featuring a surreal school picture shoot with twin 9-year-old siblings playing the part of Inner Child, a cosmic photographer, and a protagonist stuck in a loop of grief. The kids subsequently save the day and Toth is saved from his frozen memories.
Kaulbach also noted the inspiration behind the video:
When I first heard ‘Picture of You’, right away it evoked the claustrophobia of heartbreak – getting stuck in that particular trap of repetitive thoughts. That paralysis inspired the visuals – for things to be happening around and to Alex while he’s unable to take part. I wanted kids included from the start because though the song has a darker struggle at the forefront, there’s a playfulness that brings it together and releases Alex in the end.
Tōth’s debut album “Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary” is due out May 10th on Northern Spy Records.