Toledo

The indie duo TOLEDO, based in New York, crafts warm harmonic guitar pop marked by an introspective tone. Daniel Alvarez and Jordan Dunn-Pilz, friends since childhood, began issuing music together in the late 2010s and attracted listeners with their low-key, sun-dappled pop. A succession of independently released singles and EPs led to their first album, How It Ends, issued in 2022 on the Grand Jury label, followed in early 2024 by the EP Popped Heart.

The pair grew up in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where they met at age ten while busking and continued performing together through their teens before reuniting after college to form TOLEDO. Settling in Brooklyn, they put out their debut single, "On My Own," in 2017, a dreamy blend of surf tones and mellow pop that preceded "Crane Song" the following year. Their 2019 EP Hotstuff reached a wider audience while featuring tighter arrangements, more layered production, and a strong set of songs. Further singles and the 2021 EP Jockeys of Love preceded a signing with New York's Grand Jury Music, which released How It Ends in 2022. Recorded in Massachusetts, the album stood as their most personal and detailed work to date. A deluxe edition with additional tracks appeared the next year as the duo prepared fresh material pointing toward a more experimental approach, including the punchy "Lindo Lindo" and the electronic "In Yr Head (1818)." The five-song Popped Heart arrived in April 2024.