Music has always been a way to escape from the everyday grind called life. It serves as our voice when the right words aren’t there to effectively say how one feels. For Elijah Dhavvan, otherwise known as Tobias the Owl, music has given him an outlet to escape from some of his own issues, including cancer. The college professor/musical artist hasn’t always had music to turn to during difficult situations.
Videos by American Songwriter
“We were not a super musical household just because of certain cultural traditional beliefs I was brought up under so I wasn’t introduced to music until I was a teenager and I listened to Pink Floyd on my friend’s Walkman” says Dhavvan.
He now is looking to give others that same sensation when he first listened to music with his latest album ‘Visalia.’ Its storyline follows his own journey, beginning as a homeless high school dropout to becoming a physician and professor of medicine at the University of Washington.
Unlike his previous releases that have had a spot in Starbucks’ playlist all over the world, Dhavvan created this collection entirely on his own.
“It’s a very different record for us” says Dhavvan. Our last record featured a lot of internationally renowned people and we made it a very communal experience. With this new record, I took a more isolating approach. I played all the songs myself. I recorded all the songs in my closet at my house. I played all instruments myself. I also did all the compositional engineering and basically everything up until the mastering.”
Some of the best music comes out when the artist allows themselves to have some vulnerability. The isolated approach that he took when creating this record can attribute to how open he is. “I wanted to do more things alone on this project because I realized that I was really proud of the last record that I had put out but there was still some issues that are personal ghosts and demons that I have been haunted by and I realized that I have avoided dealing with a lot of those things. So with this record, I had to go on a very introspective journey on things that I haven’t ever stared in the face.”
As someone who fought for their life in hospitals on a daily basis, Dhavvan knows how quick one’s life can change without warning. Because of this, he began to think of ways he could positively affect others. “I think we all, as humans, living in this universe, have this perspective that our existence is a very rare gem that is fragile. I have an emotional attachment to that idea because I was personally told that I’d die. So, after I came back from being told that, I began to think about how I could make my life meaningful.” Staring down some of his personal demons has allowed some clarity for himself while also giving others a sense of relatability through meaningful music.
‘Visalia’ is simply honest music that will touch your soul in more ways than one. To stay up-to-date on other new music and tour dates, visit him at tobiastheowl.com.
‘Visalia’ is available on streaming sites everywhere beginning April 3rd!
