Ha Vay

Ha Vay is a project spearheaded by Maddy Toy in collaboration with Elliott Jacobs. Toy writes and comes up with most of the ideas while Jacobs is in charge of the more technical side of the music. 

Toy was raised by the owners of a music school. Seeing as her parents were heavily into music it was inevitable that she would become a musician. Her mother was always more of a writer than anything, so she passed those skills down to her daughter while Toy got her instrumental chops from her father. 

When Toy was 15 she played her first open mic night where she was hired to play a full show at the same venue. Having only written one song for the open mic night Toy wrote an entire set list for her show. She was always doing something creative, but it was not until recently that she realized she needed to make a career out of her creativity;  "I'll be doing it all my life whether anyone ever decides to listen or not," says Toy. 

Toy has ADHD so it is impossible for her to not find inspiration in every little thing. She is always paying close attention to each moment of life. Being deeply inspired by each tiny moment she creates whole worlds through her music. "When it comes to making music and art that I end up publishing, it usually is a whole film or universe in my head and the songs embody different characters and corners of the world that exist in my head," explains Toy. She uses these made up universes to explore and express her fears. Toy uses music to express herself, she feels as though music is the most natural form of self expression. 

In addition to her brain picking up on nearly every detail of her life she finds strong inspiration in a wide range of artists, from modern artists like Lana Del Ray and Grimes to classic rock acts like The Doors and Fleetwood Mac. 

Music is just as much a visual art as anything else for Toy. Her synesthesia- a neurological disorder that causes stimulus meant to be taken in by one sense to be taken in by multiple- makes music very visual in her mind, creating some cool music videos. Ha Vay has two new songs in the works each paired with music videos that will show how visual music is for Toy. The first song 'Sweetest Regards' is a folk- punk song that was written two years ago about a person in Toy's past that she would rather forget. The music video was shot on Super-8 Film, telling the story of a stereotypical housewife in the late 60's who has gone mad. The video for the second song, 'The Seam', was filmed in Montana where Toy was able to dance around an old house and in the pretty outdoors of the state. The song is all about "love for everyone and everything and [the] interconnectedness of it all," explains Toy. Neither songs have a set release date.