Whilst still in her opening phases as a young artist, Toni is discovering her voice almost in lockstep with discovering the nuances of life and quite where she sits within it. There’s a strong sense of self, of sorrow, and of sadness, but also a colourful celebration of people littered across her debut EP Heaven Knows!

Raised in North Greenwich in a loving Caribbean family, Toni returned to Trinidad at the age of ten, witnessing her home island’s sharp explosion of colour first hand. In countless ways, this experience began to sculpt Toni’s opening phases as a young songwriter. Intensely proud of her roots and of Trinidad’s carnival culture, Toni absorbed it all, returning to London with her mother at 21. She had started pouring a human perspective of her ever-changing world into snippets of song. Made in Trinidad, given new life in London, and now slowly being delivered to the world.

One of the first people to discover Toni’s music was Cigarettes After Sex’s vocalist/songwriter, Greg Gonzalez, who heard her music quite by chance online. As an artist very much in-tune with the sound and feeling of emotion, Gonzalez reached out and offered to put Toni’s first recording out, “Survive!”, via his own Spanish Prayers imprint (Cigarettes After Sex / Miss Grit / The Furniture). It was almost demo -like in its final iteration, but that’s all that was needed to make an instant impression on those that, similarly to Gonzalez, found it by chance.

What Heaven Knows! EP continues to do is showcase Toni’s unique, expressive and singular voice. It’s not a big-lunged vocal delivery per se, but something quite out of step. The pronunciation and clarity is fresh and unusual, impressive without sounding overblown. Soulful but not clichédly so. Toni neither evokes ‘the greats’ nor finds obvious modern-day peers. Like Arlo Parks, she operates in an energy of her own making. And she’s just getting started.

“a special new voice” – Rolling Stone UK
“bedroom anthems of disarming honesty” – The Observer
“one of the most extraordinary voices I’ve heard in ages…such an exciting prospect” – Sunday Times Culture
“intimate vignettes of personal discovery, all conveyed via her richly contemplative, wholly distinctive vocals” – DIY Magazine”