Tali is stepping out of the Shadows with her new single, (Don’t) Wanna Be Yours — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
A can’t-live-with-him, can’t-live-without-him romantic conundrum, it sets a torchy vocal atop a stark, haunting post-modern electro-waltz. “I wrote this song about all the things he did that bothered me, and all the ways he’d get on my nerves in our short-lived romance,” Tali says. “There was this one particular moment when he pissed me off. He lit up a chocolate-flavoured cigar when I’d asked him if he would not smoke around me. But even so, I was still very much interested in him. It was so contradictory.”
The opening track from her darkly compelling (and aptly titled) forthcoming EP, Shadows, (Don’t) Wanna Be Yours introduces new listeners to the many sides of the emerging Toronto singer-songwriter — An old soul in a modern world, hopeless romantic in a heartless era, and a timeless artist in a disposable age.
But it also presents someone even more vital: A gifted, dynamic and unique talent whose boundless creativity and commanding presence are matched only by her spiritual commitment to her calling. “When I sing, I feel like I connect to my source, to my higher self,” Tali explains. “It’s like a channel for me. One of my favourite quotes — I forget who said it — is ‘The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.’ That speaks to me. I’ve been carrying those words with me ever since I first read them.”
She deploys them to devastating effect on Shadows. Seductive, nocturnal and intoxicating, the three-track EP marries old-school songcraft to contemporary cutting-edge sonics and production. The result: Proficient, polished tracks without expiration dates. Tracks that hit the sweet spot between pop, soul, R&B, jazz and electronica. And tracks that share Tali’s self-assured reflections on the universal conflicts and contradictions of love and life — along with hard-earned lessons about letting go and trusting your gut. “That’s also what the title means to me,” she elaborates. “It’s about leaving the past in the shadows and going with the flow. It took me a long time to learn that. I used to obsess over things.”
Her obsession with music officially began on her 14th birthday. Armed with her erstwhile DJ brother’s humble midi keyboard, the budding poet put her words to music, penning her first song to support a troubled friend. Soon she was a full-blown DIY whirlwind, writing and producing songs in her makeshift home studio and posting them on Soundcloud. One caught the attention of production duo Hippie Sabotage, whose unofficial remix of the track garnered more than 20 million online spins.
That’s when the floodgates opened. “A lot of people reached out to me. Labels and industry people wanted to hear my songs and what I was doing.” At 19, she found herself in Minneapolis, recording with Prince’s drummer under the gaze of Nate Vernon, brother of Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon. (“No big deal,” she downplays jokingly.) She was courted by a major label in the U.K., where she wrote two of Shadows’ cuts while soaking up songwriting skills and secrets. But when it comes to songwriting trips, you can’t beat the one that birthed (Don’t) Wanna Be Yours: “That was written in the middle of the jungle in Nicaragua in a hut, with monkeys climbing trees outside and a gorgeous ocean view,” she laughs. “Pretty random, I know. But pretty amazing.”
Indeed. Watch (Don’t) Wanna Be Yours above, check out more of Tali’s music below, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
