Streetlight Lullabies

Tomas Kalnoky (here under the stage name Toh Kay) has been the lead singer and songwriter of Streetlight Manifesto for the better part of the last decade. On his full length debut for Pentimento Music Co, he's recorded 10 classic tracks from his band's repertoire, in a simple folksy style; one finger-style acoustic guitar and one hushed voice.

For about 150 nights every year, Toh Kay is on a stage at his ''day job'', sweating profusely and screaming until his voice is hoarse. Naturally, when he comes home the last thing he wants to do is plug in an electric guitar and continue the noise. Instead, an old nylon string acoustic guitar comes out of its case; songs are fingerpicked, lyrics are more whispered than sung. No overdubs, no other musicians, not even a pair of headphones are welcome in the studio when it's time to record. Just a single wooden instrument and a room full of quiet. With songs on subjects as broad as morality, mortality, heaven, hell and whatever may lie between the two, the music is written and recorded in a dark, quiet room, so it's no surprise that it's best listened to in that sort of setting.