Video by Sierra LaDuke
Tobie Milford is playing an imaginary piano in his living room.
Piercing blue eyes slightly narrowed in concentration, he nods to the beat of the music coming from the incorporeal keyboard, of the strings players surrounding him and of his own clear-toned tenor.
Milford and his band members are doing a last-minute run-through of one of their trickiest songs, “Geppetto.” Despite the fact that it’s already past 8 p.m.—Milford’s opener has begun playing—he is remarkably passive as he helps cellist Wei Guo nail down a demonically difficult rhythm.
“The composer was an asshole,” jokes viola player Kirk Johnson. He’s referring to Milford, who writes all his own arrangements.
“This is why I can’t keep a cellist,” Milford says.
It’s true—there’s a quick turnaround for cellists—but that hasn’t stopped Milford from becoming an important player in the downtown music scene. Nor has it stopped him from releasing his latest album, a years-long effort that is his studio debut, or from playing a show at Crescent Ballroom Friday night (not his first; Milford says he has played at Crescent too many times to remember) with Dry River Yacht Club, There is Danger and Underground Cities.
Milford’s music is hard to describe. Even he can’t do it.
“It’s not folk music, it’s not pop, it’s not classical, it’s not rock,” he said. “I think the label chamber-pop gets thrown around… ‘indie-chamber-pop.’”
Milford first garnered local recognition by developing a specialized skill: “looping” violin, a process whereby small sections of music can be recorded and repeated (in Milford’s case, during a live performance) to provide a backing for the musician. Milford used a foot pedal to layer musical sequences in his earlier performances.
He started out performing at First Fridays, where he was met with growing support from the local community. But he started playing violin much earlier. He first picked up a violin—or something like it—around the age of 3.
“I’m not even sure if it was a real violin, it might have been a cardboard box,” he said. “Apparently I saw the string quartet at my grandparents’ holiday party and I was mesmerized.”
In 2010, Milford released his first album, “Alyosha,” which was a compilation of live recordings. Since then, much has happened in Milford’s life. He got married, for one, to Lara Milford, whom he met while playing at an art walk in Scottsdale. Between 2008 and 2013, Milford was part of The Whisperlights, a well-loved Valley band which Tobie said he thought had “more than one farewell show.”
He’s also now a middle school science teacher at Great Hearts Academies in Phoenix. It’s a way for him to let music be a pastime rather than a full-time job (“I think that frees it from definitely a certain level of angst,” he said), incorporating his pre-med education and his love for children, which he discovered when he started teaching violin. It also gives him some songwriting material.
“If you’re a teacher you’re embedded in the lives of a lot of people, and that definitely keeps your eyes open,” Milford said.
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When he wasn’t teaching, playing video games–he calls himself a “closet” gamer–renovating his 100-year-old new house, or spending time with Lara, Milford was making music.
His latest album, “Listen to the Trees Grow,” which was released in November, is a departure from his earlier style. Instead of using looping, Milford employed local strings players to accompany him.
“There’s a lot more freedom on every level,” he said. “When your composition is based on looping, you’re very limited on what your song can do.”
Lyrically, Milford said the new album shows more about who he is as a person. One song he said particularly resonates is the last track, “Father and Son.” Milford said it takes all of the melodies from the other songs on the album and ties them together.
“It’s about the relationship between the artist and whatever he or she is working on,” he said. “It’s about how I believe God sees us, as far as creatures that are being made more human, more alive.”
Milford is deeply spiritual. He says it would be impossible to completely separate his Christian faith from his music, but he doesn’t seek to preach or be imposing.
“It’s part of my story,” he said. “I would have to consciously filter that out if I thought about it…If it’s something that’s natural, that’s just going to be in my lyrics and in the content of my songs.”
The lyrics of “Father and Son” illustrate Milford’s understated approach to spirituality in his music:
“Sculptor and Father / you’ve seared yourself in my bones / My heart is lame and mind is plain /Only you can bring a life to life a stone.”
Contact the reporter at Faith.Anne.Miller@asu.edu.
