Word Salad, Trash Chutes and Mannequin Heads: “TFW” by Sonola

My new philosophy is that if you want to get inside the mind of an artist, look at the state of their kitchen table.

If you ever find yourself sitting around a high-top interviewing Cody Doss, you’ll most likely find close to one hundred packets of Taco Bell sauce, a surprisingly tasteful French Playboy Magazine and a Styrofoam mannequin head named Sylvia or Sylvester, depending on who you ask.

Something about the disarray of deliberate clutter that I had to move aside to make room for my laptop reminded me of the music I was there to discuss; TFW, the sophomore album from Tallahassee-formed indie band Sonola.

You’re seeing the word “Sonola” on whatever screen you’re staring at right now and potentially coming up blank. You may be unfamiliar with the name, but the players are known around these parts.

Sonola is the side project of Cody Doss from King Complex, accompanied by his usual co-conspirator Bracher Brown (also of King Complex), with collaboration from John McGovern and Ben Weinbaum. The new music is an indie offering of overflow songs from Doss that has been three years in the making.

“It was kind of like a “what the f*** do I do with these songs” kind of thing, but I liked them enough to wanna do them,” he said, while doodling on notebook paper. “So, I made Sonola which was and is a thing for the shit that I write that I don’t know what to do with.”

Doss jokingly calls Sonola his “spiritual trash chute” for all the songs he writes and loves but doesn’t know what to do with. But I promise you, his Island of Misfit Toys-esque project is far from anything you’d be sending down a trash chute.

“So, I made Sonola which was and is a thing for the shit that I write that I don’t know what to do with.”

The song that stuck with me the most was Come and Go. Listening to it for the first time through headphones in the cramped backseat of a tacky rental car, I could feel my chest physically tighten with anticipation.

Music that has the capacity to arouse a visceral reaction is what we should be talking about. A lot of the other songs like Ghost and Vigor Mortis tactfully straddle the line between order and apprehension.

As an avid follower of all things King Complex, I was thrilled that Sonola’s music is nothing like their other music. It’s like watching two divergent lines stem from the same creative body, and it’s fascinating to a fan.

I’ve always noticed that a lot of artists have side projects, but I never understood why. Julian Casablancas jumps from The Strokes to The Voidz; Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys to The Last Shadow Puppets; Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys to The Arcs –the list goes on and on.

Doss helped me understand this trend by explaining that artists like to compartmentalize their work. Musicians write more music than they know what to do with, and it shouldn’t be put to waste because it doesn’t fit the main brand that they embody.

By creating these side projects, artists can put their music into meaningful little pockets and not confuse fans along the way. Doss said he will write a song and then later decide which project it fits into best.

Back to discussing the TFW album, Doss said it’s the most fun recording process he has ever had. And to me, the music seems like the clearest glimpse into the inner workings of his brain that I’ve seen to date.

“There’s no theme; there’s no like overarching or underlying intentional theme to it,” he said. “A lot of it is a stream of consciousness. When I write stuff–on guitar especially–it’s typically like word salad.”

Before you ask, word salad is a confused, seemingly random mixture of words and phrases. It’s the process he has adopted of mumbling things into a voice memo recording and later playing it back to see what sticks out to him during the song writing stage.

“I love doing that,” he said. “It feels the most natural because I feel like you’re possibly able to dig into your subconscious a little more.”

“When I write stuff–on guitar especially–it’s typically like word salad.”

He said that he already has enough music written to start working on a third album and that he would like to play shows as Sonola again. The uncertainty of it all is one big messy kitchen table of “who knows?” But at the same time, this relaxed approach allows for the project to remain an outlet for no-pressure, creative expression.

TFW by Sonola is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. Be sure to like Sonola on Facebook and check out their lyric videos on YouTube.

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