In residence: electronic music artist TOLVY at Wisseloord

TOLVY is an artist that discovered electronic music at the age of 8 but had already started drum lessons at 4. She made her first track when she was 14 and many have followed since. She has been living and recording at the Wisseloord Studios for 3 weeks and fell in love with people and atmosphere. She has learned a lot about her music and collaborating with other artists during her time here.

“I can only work on music that has my signature; it needs to be me. That is something I discovered during my time at Wisseloord.”

Violette, better known as TOLVY, has been described as the new French hope of electronic music. She describes her music as spatial, allowing the listener to travel over wide distances, and uses a lot of orchestral sounds. The 19-year-old was selected by the Centre National de la Musique for the 3-week residency at the Wisseloord Studios.

Residency at Wisseloord

“Electronic music often has no lyrics and is therefore borderless, and that applies especially to my spatial music style,” explains Violette. “I want to discover new countries and incorporate those influences in my music. This 3-week residency is perfect for that, I’ve collaborated with 3 different artists and have learned a lot from each of them.”

Legendary collaboration

“My collaboration with songwriters of the Wisseloord Publishing rooster Lars Koehoorn and Ward Reijmerink was legendary. Working with a vocalist was a new experience for me but Lars was able to find the lyrics for what I wanted to say. And it went the same with Ward, I made the decisions but his ability for selecting and organizing orchestral music is uncanny. The three of us wrote about 90% of the song in one day! I’m really proud of the end result, the song is called Panoramic view and I’ll definitely release it.”

Learning

“My typical day at Wisseloord is pretty straightforward, I get up and get dressed before going upstairs for some breakfast. After breakfast I go straight to work in the studio. And it’s that rhythm that has really given me a lot of confidence, I’ve realized I’m capable of so much more than I thought. I can apply that at home as well.”

When asked if she enjoyed her stay a great smile comes to Violette’s face:

“I will definitely come back to Wisseloord. I’ve met so many nice people and the studios are just awesome, the whole place is just made for music. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”