motel void

MOTEL VOID: Could you introduce your project in a few sentences? I haven’t found much information about you on the internet to be honest…

MYSTIC TOAD (David Grzedzinski): Hey, thanks for taking the time to give me a listen. I am Mystic Toad – this is my musical project. It sort of evolved out of a love for the Tascam Portastudio 4-track cassette recorder, which has a long history of use for artists to record themselves at home. I wanted to do a project based around the hazy lofi sound of cassette recorders, inspired by some artists I love like Jessica Pratt, White Fence, Elephant 6 Collective, Alessandro Cortini….

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released two beautiful ‘debut’ singles: Wandering Soul and Second Wind. Will they be part of your first record?

MYSTIC TOAD: Yep, these two songs are intended to be part of an overall album. It is pretty much complete, but I try not to set too many deadlines for myself.

MOTEL VOID: Could you tell us more about the recording and writing process of your songs?

MYSTIC TOAD: Well so usually I will come up with an instrumental guitar part with a melody fairly easily. Then I just kind of kick it around in my head while I’m taking walks, etc. until the lyrics fall into place, much like the pieces of a puzzle coming together. Then I’ll lay down a rhythm track on a cassette and take it from there.

MOTEL VOID: Your biggest music inspirations right now?

MYSTIC TOAD: Currently my musical inspirations are a few cool bands…. Really into the bands julie, Men I Trust… was hugely into Boy Harsher for a lil bit…. I went through a long phase of listening only to local Atlanta music (where I’m from) like Deerhunter, Omni, lots of hip-hop like Future, Lil Gotit, Gunna… so yeah that’s about it lately.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans for 2024?

MYSTIC TOAD: Plans for 2024 – write new songs, finish old songs, put out more on streaming…. and sending lots of toadly vibrations out into the world.