Opalis FM by Toh Imago

The first voice you can hear on Opalis FM is that of a child. Distorted as it is, traveling towards us through layers of radio static and time itself, you can clearly make out the kid saying: ”On y va!“ (”Let’s go!“).

The voice belongs to Thomas - long before he became Toh Imago - and was sampled from old video tapes made by his parents on their yearly trips to the Opal Coast, a popular holiday spot on the north-western coast of France. We walk besides Thomas into the ”Baie d’Authie”, a small little cove that is a bit less crowded than the sandy beaches further north, and very soon we are here, right in the middle of a deeply personal record, bursting with youthful energy and longing nostalgia all the same.

In electronic music, nostalgia is often used as cop out for creativity — dusty samples are used to convey a feeling of better times and connect in the simplest way with the everyday listener. Not here.
Thomas conceived Opalis FM (named after the radio station that soundtracked all of his backseat car trips on the Opal Coast) during the Covid-19 lockdown, but instead of going the easy route in face of dystopia, the new Toh Imago record is decidedly fun.

It’s filled with a joy and energy that is genuinely contagious. It’s samples are sprinkled like sugary icing on a cake, it jumps between genres, moods and directions at ease. A record not just inspired by childhood, but made with that youthful enthusiasm that we sometimes miss in our adult lives.

Just look at the eponymous track ”Opalis FM“: a head-spinning tune that catches you off-guard so many times that by it’s junglist, neo-drum&bass climax, you have entered a dreamlike state where you can’t remember where you just came from - only where you are going.

”Bagatelle Monorail“, named after the amusement park in the area, is roller coaster ride between ambient, dub, and euphoric, peak time house. Even within the tracks themselves, Thomas is not afraid to follow his intuition, free from genre conventions or stereotypes.

Only the best electronic record’s manage to do that to us: invite us to a place of wonder and excitement, where our cynical, „heard it all before“ minds can be genuinely surprised.
On y va.

Toh Imago is a paradoxical producer. On the one hand, his records are constructed from “concrete” samples of nature, a siderurgical site, oceans or childhood VHS tapes, the very places they are meant to emulate. On the other hand, he fashions an imaginary place into which his creator and his listeners can transport themselves.

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