tomorrow tomorrow - dwelling

TOMORROW TOMORROW is the project of Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and audio engineer Nico L-S. The debut album, “Dwelling,” features Nico on vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, synth, and glockenspiel. She also wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed the album in her home studio, in addition to painting the distinctive cover art.

But “singer-songwriter” is definitely not the right word for the project. Sonically, the songs range from ethereal to grunge – with swooning vocal harmonies giving way to distorted, and at times psychedelic, guitar-driven indie rock – drawing inspiration from PJ Harvey, Blonde Redhead, Elliott Smith and Radiohead. 

The album explores tales of reckless decisions, boundaries tested, and the possibilities of seeking shelter. The songs are soul-searching reflections about loss, isolation, and salvation, featuring intricate moments of fingerpicked acoustic guitar, interlaced with soaring electric guitars, swelling synths, glockenspiel, and as many as seventeen layers of vocal harmonies. Written during a time of several major transitions in her life, the album reflects on the past, interweaving field recordings from Nico’s college graduation with backwards vocals. But it also ponders the future, as she sings in the title track, “There’s no point in dwelling.”

Educated as a drummer since she was 12, Nico’s training shapes the complex rhythmic elements and time signature changes. During the pandemic, she taught herself how to play guitar on her father’s 1967 Supro and quickly found herself writing music. Wanting to flesh out her songs with the instrumentation she was hearing in her head, she taught herself the rest of the instruments. The next several years were spent building out a home studio and teaching herself everything she could about recording and mixing.

After graduating from UCLA and initially pursuing a career in law, she decided to quit her law firm job and enroll at The Recording Workshop (RecW), the long-running audio engineering school in Chillicothe, Ohio. There, she was the only female student in her class, and graduated with Honors. Upon her return, as she completed her debut album, she began interning with Women’s Audio Mission (WAM), an organization that aims to get more women and gender-expansive people into the audio field. Since then, she has been assisting Latin Grammy-winning engineer Be Hussey in various recording sessions, and most recently has been working as an assistant engineer at New Monkey Studio (formerly Elliott Smith’s studio) in Van Nuys, California. She also enjoys recording other artists in her home studio Apple Slices Audio.