Diandra Interviews Tobias Dray: How To Be A Daydreamer

Tobias Dray is an absolute daydreamer, and his recent EP, of the same title, is lush in sweet sounds. It is just a quick bite into the sonic soundscape of a young guy who defines his music as his own entertainment. Yes, if you don’t bounce and dream to your own songs, what is the point to making them? Sure, making music can be therapy, but even that comes with the goal of relief and joy. In our interview, Tobias discusses how he creates songs to not just be honest but also bold and adventurous.

Diandra: What has been your favorite, recurring daydream?

Tobias: Being able to travel in time has been my favorite recurring daydream. 

Diandra: What are the things that most inspire you to dream?

Tobias: Like most people, I think it’s the things that I experience and the things that my brain stores. So, everything that I see, touch, hear, smell, taste, and so on. But, I think the visual and auditory are the two main ones for me.

Diandra: What do you feel this EP says about you as a person and perspective in the world? 

Tobias: It says that I can be a pretty optimist person and light-hearted.

Diandra: Singing to both boredom and adventure. What are the things that most bore you and most attract you in both a person and an adventure? 

Tobias: Things that most bore me in a person is no individualism. When it comes to adventure, I get bored if there are no surprises, and everything is planned in advance. The things that attract me to a person are boldness and honesty. The best part of any adventure is the new people that you meet along the way.

Diandra: What is a movie you feel would become a great concept album? Why?

Tobias: Memento. I think it could be interesting to build an album the other way around, starting by the outro/end of the story and slowly building into what happened/the origins. 

Diandra: If you could turn your favorite album into a film concept which one would you pick and and how would you approach it? 

Tobias: I would take ‘Crush’ by Floating Points, and it would have to be animation because the colors and texture of this album would be hard to translate into real-world scenes, I think. 

Diandra: Singing to love and friendships, what has music revealed to you about how you love people and who you are as a friend? 

Tobias: I don’t think music has revealed how I love people yet, but if it did, it was unconsciously. For me, friendships are revealed through film/tv-shows/anime rather than music. Music is more inner self and maybe “selfish” when I make it. But when I make music with a friend, that’s a different story.

Diandra: In honor of “I Don’t Mind” what are the things you do mind about people/ and or the world? 

Tobias: Honestly, I don’t mind anything as long as it’s not doing harm.

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory of music and family? 

Tobias: My favorite childhood memory is my father playing music in the car and trying to do the drums on the steering wheel.

Diandra: What are the moods that inspired this EP? 

Tobias: The mood that inspires this ep is a chill/vibey/airy/light/wide mood.