Draft:Gray Tolhurst

Gray Tolhurst is a British-American musician and poet born in London, England. He is known as the lead singer of the band Topographies. Stylistically, he is known for combining the lineages of independent music and 20th century poetry. He is the only son of Lol Tolhurst, drummer and keyboardist of the Cure.

Topographies Topographies is a post-punk  band formed in San Francisco in 2018 by Gray Tolhurst and Jérémie Rüest. Tolhurst and Rüest met while touring with indie-folk band Gentle Spirit. They were joined by bassist Justin Oronos, who they found on craigslist and drummer Lauren Grubb. Prior to the release of their first LP, Grubb left the group and moved to New York City. Since 2020, the band has remained a three-piece. Topographies blends genres like cold wave, dream pop, post punk, and shoe gaze. Their sound has  been characterized  by the use of synthesizers, drum machines, poetics, and  is described as  lush, ethereal, hazy.

Topographies has been compared to musical groups such as Cocteau Twins, Asylum Party, The Chameleons, Severed Heads, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Can, Slowdive, Ride, and Red House Painters https:// as well as contemporaries like Choir Boy, Softkill, Black Marble,  Drab Majesty, Fearing, House of Harm, and Sextile. Tolhurst also cites his father, Lol Tolhurst of The Cure, as the key proponent to his early musical education.

Personal Life
Tolhurst grew up in Los Angeles, California. He began making music at age 13 after seeing Kraftwerk perform. He attended University of California, Los Angeles where he studied anthropology and San Francisco State University where he received an MA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Poetry. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, the artist rel robinson and their dog, Meatyard.

Early Work
Tolhurst self -released. . . And The Seven Planets In Their Material Orbits in November 2014, an eponymous album in June 2016, Belonging in April 2017, and Drown in The Sea Inside, 2020.

Topographies 2018-present
Topographies self-released an eponymous debut EP May 11, 2018. The EP was produced and recorded at New Improved Recording, Oakland California and mixed at Outlier Inn, Woodridge, New York by Alexis Berthelot, mixed at Mastering was completed at Strange Weather, Brooklyn New York by Alex DeTurk.

In 2019, Topographies released a limited edition cassette tape with Park Time Punks. The tape was engineered by Josiah Mazzaschi. The session was recorded at the Cave Studio, Los Angeles, California on February 11th 2018 and released January 9th 2019.

Cherry Blossom, a limited edition 7” vinyl was released by UK-based label Sonic Cathedral and features two singles titled Cherry Blossom and Half-Asleep.

Topographies’ second EP, Difference and Repetition was released with Dream Recordings. The EP was released February 14th, 2020. Difference and Repetition was produced, recorded, and mixed by Monte Vallier Ruminator Studio, San Francisco CA. Mastering was completed  at Saff Mastering, in Chicago, Illinois by Carl Saff.

Topographies’ third EP, Not My Loneliness, But Ours was released ay 15, 2020 by French label Medication Time. The EP was recorded and produced by Topographies; mixed and mastered by Alexis Berthelot. Their debut album, Ideal Form, was released in December 5th 2020 by Funeral Party Records based in Lexington Kentucky.

Following the release of Ideal Form, Topographies supported Soft Kill on their 2022 Roses All Around tour alongside Portland-based Alien Boy. In 2023, Topographies accompanied Mary Lattimore on a leg of her North American tour.

Preceeding the release of their second album, Topographies released two singles Tied/Arch and Illusion of Control. Topographies’ sophomore album Interior Spring was released on February 2nd 2024 by Dark Entries Records in San Francisco, California. Production, engineering, and mixing were completed by Shaun Durkan and mastering by Nick Bassett

In their press release, Dark Entries Records expressed that the songs “ explore themes of guilt, inherited trauma, and recovery. The meaning of its title is triplicate: a submerged river carrying hope, an anxiously wound clock, and a season where wildflowers bloom on the graves of the past.”