Photo Credit: Michael Leviton

Tōth, the indie rock-informed creative, known for blending in elements of jazz, psychedelia, and folk, has unveiled its latest single and official music video for “Touching.” The new track finds the Rubblebucket co-founder, Alex Toth, interlacing lyrics with featured artist Kimbra. The duet presents like an intimate back-and-forth between the mingled pair, which begs for a handheld embrace that is flexed in video form. The single represents the first preview of a full-length release.

“Touching” arrives amid a band hiatus for Toth’s other project, Rubblebucket, giving the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist time to pursue his solo endeavors. It is the first track to come out during the pause, and is labeled as a “gratitude song,” in consideration of the physical and emotional vulnerability it accounts for. With repeat listens, it functions as a think piece, asking listeners to consider if “joy is a distraction from the void.” 

Apart from the desired perception, the track was created as a gesture toward the late Brian Wilson and his trailblazing knack for arranging songs that produce shifts in mood and feeling that elicit winged falsettos that carry a sense of softness that can only be felt after coming to terms with the pain and loss of being. 

For the visual component and subsequent music video, Michael Leviton was tasked with generating a complement to the music. “We had these beautiful people touching each other,” Leviton says. “But touch doesn’t always have to be erotic. It can be playful, like an artistic collaboration, like a friendship that feels romantic.” 

Watch the video below.

Catch Tōth on the road in October. Learn more and purchase tickets.