Tolstoys at Pohoda 2018
Tolstoys won the Debut of the Year Award at the current Radio Heards for the album “Botanika”. The unmistakable voice and sensitive expression of the singer Ela Tolstová, in combination with the melancholic indie-pop melodies, precise rhythm section, and interesting arrangements (violin, piano, and samples) quickly won a lot of fans. We discovered them basically coincidentally when they were playing in Ráno na eFemku radio show, only a few minutes before we were going to announce Solange. It is no coincidence, however, that after last yearʼs Pohoda, Pohoda Party concerts, showcases Bush, Ment, Nouvelle Prague, and Eurosonic, Tolstoys will play also at Pohoda 2018.
04. June 2018
Tolstoys is a young Bratislava band that plays a mature sounding dream pop with elements of electronic and acoustic music. The 5 members got together in 2016. Their singles “Agapé” and “Right Choice” created quite an echo in the Slovak alternative scene early last year. Their debut album “Botanika”, which was released in October 2017 by Slnko Records, also received positive feedback. The debut that mingles fragile acoustic passages, electronic music, melancholy, and energetic rhythms intertwined with English and Slovak lyrics, won the Radio_Head Awards in the Debut of the Year category, and was nominated in the Album of the Year category.
Last summer, they performed at the Pohoda and Grape festivals. Their autumn full of concerts started with the sold-out concerts with the Israeli band Lola Marsh in Košiceʼs Tabačka club and Bratislavaʼs A4 club. In the autumn, they also had a successful Slovak tour and participated in important showcase festivals around—BUSH in Budapest, Nouvelle Prague in Prague, and Waves Vienna in Vienna. Earlier this year, they played at the most prestigious showcase festival in Europe—the Dutch Eurosonic Noorderslag, and also in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the MENT festival. After the latter one, the editor of the magazine .týždeň Filip Olšovský wrote about the band: “The Slovak band Tolstoys is literally growing musically before your eyes... they are already bulging with their stage performance.” You can see how much they have grown over the last year also at the 22nd Pohoda.