TOLEDO take us track-by-track through ‘Inertia,’ a sun-soaked and soul-stirring EP that captures the ache of growing up, growing apart, and finding grace in the in-between. Rooted in “home grown nostalgia,” the Brooklyn duo’s six new songs glow with the quiet thrill of reconnection – proof that sometimes, going back is the surest way forward.

Stream: “Zelda” – TOLEDO

TOLEDO have always made music that feels like a memory – delicate and warm, worn-in and welcoming.

With Inertia, the Brooklyn-based duo sink deeper into their signature folk-inflected indie rock sound, delivering a sun-soaked and summery reverie built on friendship, fluidity, and feeling. The EP’s six songs find TOLEDO doing their best TOLEDO impression – wistful and buoyant, enchanting and smoldering – and in doing so, they’ve created their finest work yet. A homegrown wonder in every sense, Inertia is the sound of a band leaning into their roots and discovering something new in the process.

i showed you my teeth
in anger when you left
been barely a week
you’re moving on to someone better
now all of my friends
are calling me old friend
and every new street
just looks like a dead end

but it helps me to think
maybe you are listening now

– “Zelda,” TOLEDO

Independently released May 9th, 2025, Inertia arrives just over a year after TOLEDO’s experimental Popped Heart EP and two years out from the duo’s stunning, critically acclaimed debut album How It Ends. Whereas Popped Heart embraced synths and drum machines and How It Ends reckoned with childhood trauma, the band’s latest EP feels free and unburdened – written mostly on impulse during a cabin retreat upstate, and grounded in the easy, instinctive joy of making music together.

“This project is imbued with the sense of ease that comes with returning to your roots,” TOLEDO – comprised of childhood friends Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz – tells Atwood Magazine. “It feels like coming home.”

“In typical TOLEDO fashion, we rented a cabin upstate with the intention of getting some preexisting songs recorded,” the duo explain. “We stuck to our guns and recorded ‘Zelda’ as planned. But inspiration struck, as it often does, and the rest of the songs were written on impulse. After our experience recording Popped Heart, we were itching to get back to our home base of guitar. Popped Heart was always going to be the synth and drum machine EP, and How It Ends was always going to center around childhood trauma. I swear this is a positive, but we really didn’t have much of a vision going into this recording… It was freeing to focus solely on the song in front of us this time around.”

Despite its name, Inertia feels anything but stagnant. TOLEDO may have returned to the folky, guitar-based palette they started with, but this EP doesn’t read as a step back – it’s a step inward and a step forward all at once. “Working on Inertia helped bring into focus the things we love about TOLEDO, and the things we see in our immediate future,” the duo reflect. “We want to lean more into an expansive sound, non-traditional instrumentation, bolder song structures. The seeds we planted in Inertia will surely grow into the next album we write.” The stillness of the setting – a rented cabin upstate – may have implied rest, but what emerged is movement, momentum, and an unmistakable sense of creative clarity.

TOLEDO lovingly describe this record in three words: Home Grown Nostalgia. It’s a fitting phrase for a collection that wears its heart on its sleeve – full of intimate reflections, layered textures, and melodies that glisten like golden hour light. Inertia is dreamy, dusty songcraft at its finest, and a beautiful bridge to whatever comes next.

lean into a joke i’ve told a thousand times
trip over my own excitement
botching the punchline
now we’re sitting in silence
curtains closing behind us
but you smile
and reach out across the aisle

i can’t help myself
i perk up my ears to laugh
when i feel like a catch
be honest now
cant you tell i’m doing by best?
is there cause & effect?

There’s a lot to discover in this six-track, 23-minute journey – from textural flourishes and melodic turns to lyrical gut-punches that linger long after the music fades.

Inertia may be brief, but it’s bursting with depth and dimension, inviting repeat listens and close attention. Highlights abound on the journey from the lush waves of opener “Cause & Effect” to the spellbinding, cinematic splendor of closer “Amends.”

“Cause & Effect” sets the tone with urgency and charm – a love song born in a voice memo and finished in a flash. Its brisk pacing mirrors the thrill of a new crush, while the lyrics (“Can’t you tell I’m doing my best? / Is there cause and effect?”) walk the line between hope and hesitation. A repurposed COVID-era bridge adds a layer of TOLEDO’s trademark nostalgia, making it a quintessential entry point into the EP’s sun-kissed world.

“When He Comes Around” is one of the record’s standouts – an easy-to-love, harmony-soaked pop song with teeth. The band lean into their rock instincts here, drawing sonic inspiration from Tom Petty and Steely Dan as they track electric guitars and drums live to tape. The result is soulful and emotionally charged, with a roaring instrumental break and a soaring, singalong-ready refrain. It’s infectious in all the right ways, and one of TOLEDO’s most energized performances to date.

Just as affecting, though in a gentler way, is “Zelda,” whose intimate vocals and shimmering acoustic work offer a moment of stillness. Anchored by a repeated chord progression and no formal chorus, the song thrives on movement and color – Mellotron strings, bongos, even bursts of brass and banjo – all layered with care. “Zelda” is a vivid standout, glistening with tenderness and restraint, and perhaps the purest expression of Inertia’s “homegrown nostalgia.”

The bridge of “Zelda” just so happens to be the band’s favorite moment on the entire EP. “We never would have ‘written’ those string melodies,” they share. “In a way we did, but we really let the Mellotron guide us. It is so rewarding to scroll through presets until the perfect one reveals itself to you.”

well i couldn’t tell
the waking from the dream
thought i saw you last
in plastic covered angel wings
i bury my face in black until it ends
the weight of your shadow
hovering over my bed

but it helps me to think
maybe you are listening now

“Tall Kids” is another gem, as much a sonic experiment as it is a reflection on love, fear, and the desire to hold on. Its gratitude-tinged lyrics and swirling production make it one of the EP’s more ambitious cuts, with the band leaning into big drums and bold tonal shifts. “Perfect Blue,” by contrast, is quiet and contemplative – a sparse and haunting piece that centers on a sequenced piano line and soft drum machine. It’s one of TOLEDO’s few songs that began with lyrics first, and the emotion lands with every hushed phrase.

i couldn’t sleep the night you took
my hand and pulled me closer
when i felt your arms around my neck
the sun came up and followed us
until the day was over
and i walked home the tallest kid

– “Tall Kids,” TOLEDO

Closing track “Amends” is as stunning as it is heavy: A slow-burning reckoning with fading friendships, hardened hearts, and the end of innocence. Its ¾ rhythm belies the gravity of what’s unfolding – “Gone are the days where we say what we mean,” they sing, and the ache is palpable. It’s a gut-wrenching finale that speaks to the EP’s emotional core: Things change, people grow apart, and time keeps moving – but through music, TOLEDO make peace with all that’s been lost, and all that still remains.

but you’ll take everything in your stride
and i’ll always follow suite
the loneliest night
is the night i’ll remind you

that it’s just a little line in the sand we can’t cross
and there’s time in our hands
but it’s all running out
so we try to decide on the best loss
i don’t understand
you don’t want to make amends

well what’s a little lie
we can sell with our hands crossed?
if we smile they can’t tell
that it’s all running out
and it’s true that we do what we can
but i don’t understand
you don’t wanna make amends

gone are the days where we say what we mean

While Inertia is filled with sonic color and rich, radiant textures, it’s the songs’ lyrics that lend the EP its striking emotional weight.

TOLEDO explore the ache of growing older and growing apart – of missed chances, unsaid words, and the bittersweet nature of change. There’s grief in their words, but also grace; longing, as well as love. Time, memory, and human connection form the backbone of the record’s storytelling, often in subtle yet striking ways. “I was so afraid that they would come take it from me,” they sing on “Tall Kids,” capturing the fragility of new love and the fear of losing something just as it arrives. On “Zelda,” they reflect on lingering heartache with poetic precision: “I bury my face in black until it ends / the weight of your shadow hovering over my bed.” These lines hit hard not because they’re loud, but because they’re honest – steeped in vulnerability, and delivered without pretense.

It’s no surprise that two of the band’s favorite lines encapsulate the EP’s emotional range. From “Amends,” they pull the poignant, plainspoken truth: “Gone are the days where we say what we mean.” And from “Cause & Effect,” a lyric that captures hope in the face of uncertainty: “The curtains closing behind us / but you smile / and reach out across the aisle.” Each is a quiet gut-punch – a poetic reminder of the distance that forms between people, and the tender, fleeting moments that bring us back together.

Ultimately, Inertia feels like an intimate reaffirmation of purpose – both for TOLEDO’s members, and for their listeners; a moment of reflection that points toward the future.

It’s an EP that embraces vulnerability, champions growth, and cherishes connection in all its forms.

“We have started playing these songs out, and there is a special moment that happens while playing ‘Zelda.’ The energy of the room follows the dynamic of the chorus, and we can look at on the audience and whisper, ‘Maybe you are listening… now,’” TOLEDO smile. “With every release, we hope the project (or song) falls on new ears and makes a connection.”

“Ultimately all we want is for someone to feel less alone in this damn universe. If our music plays a small part in that for someone, our mission is accomplished. As we continue writing and recording, it becomes more and more reinforced that we are in the right place, doing what we are supposed to be doing. We’re still having a blast, we’re still bouncing ideas off each other, still discovering ourselves through the music.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside TOLEDO’s soul-stirring Inertia EP with Atwood Magazine as Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz take us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their latest release!

This record is proof that sometimes, Inertia is what moves us most.

TOLEDO will be bringing Inertia – as well as songs from “every TOLEDO era” – on the road this summer, fall, and winter as they embark on a newly announced headline tour across the US – find full dates, tickets, and more info at thebandtoledo.com!

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:: stream/purchase Inertia here ::

:: connect with TOLEDO here ::

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Stream: ‘Inertia’ – TOLEDO

:: Inside Inertia ::

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Cause & Effect

This song came together the way all of our favorite TOLEDO songs do – quickly. I got a voicemail from Dan that contained the first verse + chorus, and the rest was simple. That is the power of new love! Even the song’s lyrics reinforced a sense of urgency. They beg the question: are you picking up what i’m putting down?

We chopped up an old covid era song and repurposed it as a bridge. Another oft used TOLEDO trick.

When He Comes Around

My dad texted me to tell me it sounded like a Tommy Tutone song. We were going for a Tom Petty thing. Or maybe even Steely Dan. “Dirty Work” was top of mind. We spend so much time in a pretty or languid space sonically, so it feels good to rock out. This is our attempt at rocking out. We tracked electric guitar and drums live to tape. Tuned the acoustic down until the strings were nice and flappy.

Zelda

Zelda set the EP in motion for us. It was the first song we tackled on our recording trip, and it provided a fun challenge to sort. The chords repeat and repeat, and we didn’t have a chorus, so how could we keep things interesting? We leaned heavily on our Mellotron 4000d, using preset string and bongo samples to drive the song and provide sonic shifts. I shouldn’t prescribe labels, but this is my favorite recent TOLEDO track.

Tall Kids

While most of the EP went through little revision and remained close to the original iterations, Tall Kids took a few tries to get right. Lyrically, the song is an expression of gratitude, and there was a version that leaned into this wholesomeness and presented like a straight up love song. Maybe this was the right move, but it’s not where we settled! We used this song to push ourselves, shooting for a larger drum sound and working to squeeze a lot of tonal shifts into a rather short song.

Perfect Blue

To put it bluntly, the song is about comforting someone the day after Tr*mp was elected. It was literally written that morning after. There aren’t a lot of words here, and we wanted to have a simple song on the EP. We centered around a sequenced piano line and a drum machine, and this instrumental sat on a hard drive untouched for a long time. A rare occasion for us, we went in lyrics first without a melody in mind.

Amends

We referred to Amends as “¾ song” for far too long. It obviously became much more than it’s time signature. It’s probably the heaviest song on the EP, to the extent that it might even be an outlier. We were too excited by it to save it for another project. The first lyric existed on a notes app for a few months. I think the weight of those words demanded attention, and fear of an internal deep dive kept them at bay. We have a lot of songs that deal with loss of innocence, but we are officially old now. The innocence feels like it’s almost gone sometimes! Friendships fade, people change, exteriors toughen.

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:: stream/purchase Inertia here ::

:: connect with TOLEDO here ::

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 © Joe Pietropaolo

Inertia

an EP by TOLEDO