Peter Foldy offers a cure for your alienation blues with his new single Toxic World (Remastered) — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Has it ever struck you that this planet we all share might be getting … well, meaner? Colder? Less conducive to a rewarding, peaceful time for everybody who has to live here? Foldy has certainly noticed. And on the lead track from his new EP Collection, the Canadian singer-songwriter declares his dismay over the situation in no uncertain terms.
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” he sings, over a deceptively skipping rhythm and a rolling acoustic-guitar figure that make for a perfectly ironic counterpoint to the grave subject matter. “People talking hate, they don’t know right from wrong.” When he reaches the song’s totally cathartic chorus, his observations have attained the level of a full-on lament:
“Baby can’t you see, we’re living in a toxic world?
People running scared, forgetting that love is the word
Do you remember back when we were young?
I was the shoulder you were leaning on
We made some love, we shed some tears
And now I seem to need you more than ever
If we stay united, we’ll help each other carry on.”
Now that’s a different kind of protest song: The kind that understands the only real defense against a rapidly fracturing society is the eternal power of two.
Toxic World was first released in 2019, but Foldy admits that it kind of “fell through the cracks once Covid hit in 2020. I wanted to give the song another chance.” Hence its re-emergence as one of the standout numbers on his new EP, which compiles his favourite recordings of the last few years plus two new tracks. To hear him tell it, the need for such a remedial lesson in his recent history was abundantly clear: “In the last five years, I’ve refined my musical style to encompass a more contemporary sound.”
To that end, Toxic World (Remastered) and Friend-Zone bask in the co-production skills of modern hitmaker Miklos Malek, who has made magic with the likes of Ariana Grande and Jennifer Lopez. Other entries like Jump Like This and The Only Thing That Matters (Foldy’s most recent single) flesh out a program of pop that has immediate and obvious appeal across formats.
The EP is merely the latest triumph for the Budapest-born, Syndey-raised Foldy, who became a chart sensation shortly after immigrating to Toronto in the early ’70s. His debut single Bondi Junction climbed to No. 1, and netted him not one but two Juno nominations. Subsequent hits like Roxanne and Julie-Ann solidified his place, leading to signings with major labels.
A relocation to Los Angeles to capitalize on that momentum instead ended up taking Foldy down a wholly unexpected career path: As a screenwriter and director, he got to work with some of the top names in Hollywood, including Paul Rudd, Beverly D’Angelo and Eugene Levy. He also gained recognition as a photographer with his visually arresting images. Through it all, though, Foldy’s passion for music remained steadfast, and he’s recently been enjoying a recording renaissance. Collection both celebrates that evolution and offers an enticing hint of what might be yet to come.
Check out Toxic World (Remastered) above, hear more from Peter Foldy below, and visit his world on his website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
