"Screens say you’re alright" :: photo by William Callan
"Screens" by San Francisco based Torrey and from their upcoming debut record "Something Happy" (recorded at Tiny Telephone in San Fran) due to drop this summer has a wonderful sense of forward movement even though some of the themes throughout the song suggest otherwise. While the song percolates with jangly guitar that goes off on with amazing circular lead patterns, falling bass lines, tight cored drumming and Ryann Gonsalves' vocals that feel a little sad and aloof, creating a nice interconnected puzzle of sound, the words about "the patterns of anxiety and validation that exist within social media" give a sense of standing in quicksand and sinking ever so slowly.
“It’s about how [social media] holds weight with your self worth and social anxiety, and just wanting to belong somewhere or just wanting to check in on someone.” says Gonsalves. “Screens say you’re alright” which seems to lose meaning upon each repetition. “But are you? Is everything okay?”
She asks good questions. Oftentimes with friends and loved ones the static words on messages seem like polite conversational fodder and obviously on Instagram their is always that patina of everything being ok when it sometimes is quite the opposite.
Torrey is siblings, Ryann and Kelly Gonsalves, Eric Mohammad and Adam Honingford.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/torreymusic/
https://torreymusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.torreymusic.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4nutAUcCBEahYFSL2olXIa?si=ZlpJwzFETCq9Zbriw_40Ig
Everything is going to be okay.
This sentiment runs through Something Happy, the debut record of San Francisco outfit Torrey, in many shades: In the joy that exudes from the four piece’s effervescent energy, in the words of encouragement summoned to push away the darkness, and in the unspoken trust that weaves the band together.
Torrey, made up of siblings Ryann and Kelly Gonsalves, Eric Mohammad and Adam Honingford, first gravitated towards one another as something of a musical experiment. Ryann and Kelly, who grew up forty minutes outside of San Francisco, both fell in love with music at a young age. It wasn’t until very recently, however, that the pair began to collaborate, a process sparked by an exchange of tentative voice memos that soon revealed the creative potential between the two.
“I think naturally working with your sibling is challenging.” Kelly Gonsalves says of their process. “Some days are really amazing and you’re on the same page, and then other days you just really know how to dig into that person […] But it seems like no matter what, I can be playing guitar and Ryann knows exactly what to do right off the bat.”
The pair then brought in friends Mohammad and Honingford, and the band soon evolved into a vibrant and safe space for creative expression which, for many of the members, was a new experience.
“I think a couple of us were having fun playing in a band for the first time in a while.” Ryann says. “We can make a pop song and then I can also be singing about my depression and we’re still having fun. It’s a good time.”
The implicit trust within the band is what allows the project to shine. The chemistry between the band members is apparent in the dreamy pop-rock splendor that is Something Happy, which was written in a collaborative, often non-linear fashion that allowed for each member to flourish. The songs careen forward with an effortless groove and shimmering guitar riffs, while Ryann’s vocals nestle into the beat with perfection. The album’s title, Something Happy, manages to feels tongue-in-cheek and sincere at the same time. The tracks play out like the antidote to a subtle darkness that surfaces throughout the record. Ryann’s lyrics cradle the listener, her voice repeating in sometimes mantric fashion as she shares with us her uncertainties, breathless moments of beauty, and the words she uses to find inner strength. While the record reaches towards a place of positivity, it hums with the depth that comes from healing something that was perhaps not right before, and the effort to find oneself in a long- eluded place of belonging.
The record blooms into color with the opening track, Screens, an energetic ride through the patterns of anxiety and validation that exist within social media. “It’s about how [social media] holds weight with your self worth and social anxiety, and just wanting to belong somewhere or just wanting to check in on someone.” Ryann Gonsalves says of the song, which highlights the one-way feeling conversations often have in the digital world when they replace a more analog connection. Summery and fresh, the track is a sonic escape that almost masks the uneasiness of the refrain “Screens say you’re alright” which seems to lose meaning upon each repetition. “But are you?” Ryann challenges. “Is everything okay?”
Something Happy was recorded at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, CA. It was engineered, produced, and mixed by Sami Perez (The She’s, Cherry Glazer) and mastered by Jacob Winik (John Vanderslice, The Magnetic Fields, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down). Before the Covid shutdown, Torrey performed regularly in the San Francisco scene that continues to inspire and nurture their music, playing their last show with Sasami at the Chapel for the beloved Noise Pop Music Fest in 2020. The record is due for release this summer, and they eagerly await the opportunity to share their music live with their community.
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