Singer/songwriter, Juilliard graduate, ethereal vocalist, holistic medicine guru and dance diva - Sylvia Tosun has an interesting combination of talents and influences. Having traveled the world performing music in many different languages, her new single "Underlying Feeling" is gaining a huge buzz in the UK (hitting number 2 on the club chart) and getting ready to explode in the US. If you've missed previous club hits "Sanctuary" and "Head Over Heels," check them out on her dynamic website and preview the video for "Underlying Feeling."
DJ Ron Slomowicz: I've just got to start with something, I've loved your music for several years and I've just realized your record label name, Sea To Sun, is a play on your last name.
Sylvia Tosun: It's a little play on words; the sea and the sun represent the ethereal aspect and using my name in there completes the picture. I'm glad you recognized that, as not everybody does.
RS: And talking about ethereal, your new single, Underlying Feeling, has a really nice ethereal feel to it. What was in your mind when you were writing the song?
Sylvia Tosun: Anton Bass and I were writing together and just out of curiosity, we thought, let's look up the definition of love. So we looked in to the dictionary and among tons of different meanings for things, and all the way down, like maybe the thirteenth or fourteen definition was "an underlying feeling of oneness." We thought that was really cool and we were totally inspired by that, so we built the whole song around the concept. The definition doesn't only pertain to two people that love each other, but it's also the meaning of brotherhood and loving one another. I feel like the song has more of a complete sentiment and not just one perspective.
RS: I've always wondered; when you're writing songs with someone else do you write a whole bunch of songs at once – or do you write one song at a time?
Sylvia Tosun: Well we usually get in to a room and we vibe-out and say, what are we feeling today? It’s a channeling of energy that just comes from the moment. Now of course there are always situations where we have a bunch of ideas at once, or we might have a concept for a whole album. My favorite experience is to have two people just blank in a room, letting the moment lead its true collaboration - that way I think we're capturing something magical when we do that.
RS: Definitely. I really enjoyed your CD Jump In which was midtempo electronica and very ethereal.
Sylvia Tosun: Yes, it was more like Euro pop. I loved working with my collaborators on that one.
RS: Your newer music seems to be more upbeat…is that a transition in your music in the way you're doing?
Sylvia Tosun: Yes, actually. We all as musicians and I think even as people; we kind of evolve in whatever we do. I don't want to be in a state of inertia. Even if I like a certain style, I like many styles and lately, I've been more towards the progressive house movement. I feel it's transcendent and I love to go to Allegria parties and I used to love to go dancing at the Roxy on a Saturday night. I love what movement does for people dancing on a dance floor and the concept of movement; I think we are dancing together, we are moving forward together. As I got deeper in to the dance world I realized that I really enjoy writing to something that's got a faster BPM to it.
RS: OK, I'm going to stop you right here. So far you've used the words transcending and inertia in this interview.
Sylvia Tosun: Oh no.
RS: You're like really smart, where did you go to school?
Sylvia Tosun: Oh god! <laughing> I went to music school, I went to Juilliard.