Radiohead, Hans Zimmer, Noname: Toni Sancho reflects on the music that inspired her new EP “Declare Me Dead”.

London-based artist Toni Sancho has returned with a sophomore EP in the shape of “Declare Me Dead”. The project is sprawling in its sonic palettes and thematic threads alike; Sancho traverses stylistic singularity with fluid, progressive instrumental palettes, questioning and addressing a pantheon of potent topics — from existentialism to heartache, from melancholy to the search of something beyond life’s physical form.

It’s a deeply impressive and affecting collection of tracks that deserve to be heard, dissected and discussed. To celebrate, Sancho dives into the work’s influence in our latest On Repeat.

Listen to “Declare Me Dead”…

Toni Sancho is On Repeat…

Joe Sample  – “Black Is The Color”

I was very interested in this track because of the discordant notes it chooses close to the end, they give me goosebumps and I realize if you switch between certain minor and minor seventh chords over and over in this way it feels like this moment when you’ve finally come down from a strong drug, these chords express the relief of this. I use them in sound of dawn and declare me dead 

Florence & The Machine – “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”

I find the recording of this beautiful all really live instruments and it sounds like it was recorded in the 70s and I asked for this style of recording to be used on this record. I wanted the songs to sound old in a new way, nostalgic for something that hasn’t happened before in the same way this song does it. 

Nina Simone  – “Baltimore”

Nina in this song is expressing the harshness of the city and how she feels out of place. This tone is definitely one I was channelling throughout the making of this work, the feeling of being alien in an unknown place. The tone that she sings I really resonated with and I feel it’s the tone I was using in this record. Traumatised by the city. 

Radiohead – “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” 

I love Radiohead, and I love how they layer guitars and build up a point of emotion. I love the way this song starts of gentle and gets very raw and emotional. I feel this song structure expresses a part of the human experience which I am always trying to do. This song to me sounded like how a panic stack feels. It informed the way that I would go about the songs on the record. I will not explain the experience to you, I will make you go through it will me in the song and by the end you will understand. This song opened up this way of making music for me. 

Daniel Ceaser – “Cyanide”

In cyanide Daniel integrates a reggaeton rhythm with quite neo soul chords and instruments and it beautifully expresses the complexity of who he is culturally. I feel like a similar type of cultural hybrid and I was interested in mixing genres in this way to express myself on this record. Sometimes the sounds can be western but rhythm can be indigenous and I find this type of mixing exciting. 

Sunday Service Choir – “Rain” 

This is one of my favourite songs from Kanye’s Sunday Service era and it’s really because it feels like we are listening in on a praise group actively engaged in worship. It is tender music and it feels like it was being expressed specifically and only for God and that it was just an accident that we got to hear. This song really made me understand the power of making music feel sacred. It informed songs like Sound of Dawn and The Valley.

Hans Zimmer – “Time” 

This song is just a really satisfying score and it made me understand the importance of arriving at emotional chord progressions. The first time I heard this chord progression I just started crying, it was reaching some part of me I didn’t understand. I was interested in using chord progressions and melodies that moved me. This song also taught me the emotional power of strings in a song, I use violins quite frequently on this record 

Noname – “potentially the interlude” 

I listen to a lot of Noname, and the primary thing I am able to learn from her is her unashamed tone of honesty. I like the way she says whatever she needs to say at the mercy of no one. I try to channel this always. 

Daughter – “Shallows”

I love Daughter’s tone as well and it contributes to my expression as well. I love how she is honest but in a tender way. She is honest in a way that is vulnerable and sincere which is definitely a lot of the tone of this record 

Keaton Henson  – “Sweetheart, What Have You Done to Us”

This song again informed the tone on my own record. This is one of my favourite songs, and I primarily love it because it sounds like he’s literally just crying through the record. It sounds like a broken man with a microphone placed next to him. It’s so raw and I think there is something so beautiful about giving art from this place.