Tory Silver (she/they) is a queer songwriter and indie-rock musician based in Pittsburgh, PA. Their latest record, In Through the Front with Lasers, is out May 29, 2026.
Melina was definitely somebody that I looked up to musically before we even worked together. I just genuinely really liked her music a lot. I think it was my ex who introduced her music to me originally. I’ve always been into indie rock, but then I really liked jazz a lot, and she’s someone who combines those elements in such a beautiful way. I know she has some inspiration from R&B as well. I was living in Boston when I first heard her, and Berklee is such a huge presence — there’s so many really tight, really good improvisational jazzy bands. And then I really got into her when one of my friends, who was a local DJ at a radio station called WERS, started playing “Superbike” a lot. I was like, Woah. Still to this day, it’s probably one of my favorite songs. That break down toward the end is so cool.
“Superbike” and “Tenderness” were the first ones where I was like, Oh, yeah… But I think my favorite record of hers now probably would be Everybody Works. There’s just so many bops on that one. And that one, I think, is a little more similar to the way that I write music — just the variety of slower songs, songs that are a little more sped up, ones that are more instrumental-focused. I like to write songs that are all pretty unique from each other, I would say, and I think her songs have that same similarity. Not one song sounds like one that you’ve already heard before. They’re all pretty original.
I love “1 Billion Dogs” in particular. That one’s just so fun, a really good one to have the windows down driving, or listening with your AirPods on while walking. It just puts me in a good mood. And I love dogs. She also loves dogs, and I remember when we were recording one of my songs called “Dogs,” she was like, “Everyone has to have a song about dogs!”
We started working together after I reached out on Instagram. Every other record I put out was just self-produced and recorded, pretty DIY. But for this one, I wanted it to be something a little bigger. I saw that she had her email on her profile, so I was like, I’m gonna reach out. I don’t expect to hear back from her, but I’m just gonna do it. And then a few months later, she was like, “Hey, sorry for the delay, but I would love to do this.” And that was very affirming. I was like, Oh, wow. The music I’m making, that someone of this level likes it enough to want to work with it, was really validating.
My band flew out to Los Angeles and we recorded at her home studio. So we were at her house every day for two weeks. The first day, we just listened to all the demos that we had and talked about what we wanted to do, little changes we could make. And from there, we just recorded. We tried to record two songs a day, or at least the basis, and then the last few days of recording we started adding in more instruments on top of everything else. It really became a collaboration. She would throw an idea out there and then somebody else in the band would be like, “Oh, it would be cool if we did this…” It felt like hanging out with a bunch of friends. She was just really chill. And I think my band is pretty relaxed in terms of having your art messed with, so it just became a really cool collaborative project between all of us.
I think something that we both have in common is I love a big ending, or a big breakdown, and that’s something that she also does a lot in her music. That was something I already liked, but hearing her music has always given me inspiration for how I can do it better, or things to add in to heavy it up a little bit more. So that’s something that’s definitely been cool for my own music, learning how to make those bigger parts bigger. I think the song “Baby” on the new record definitely has more of that Jay Som vibe — it has that big ending, and it does get a little messy sounding. But messy in a way where it makes sense and it’s still harmonious. That was one song where she was messing around with some effects; as someone was playing the synthesizer, she was moving things around just to give it a little more texture.
Something that I really like about her is that she isn’t pretentious at all. You wouldn’t know that she has a Grammy in her living room. She’s just a really cool, down to earth person, and I think that reflects in her songwriting. We actually had the chance to open up for her when she came to Pittsburgh a couple months ago, and also on stage, she was totally herself, just kind of goofy and someone you feel like you can relate to. That’s something that I really like about her as a person, and I like to think that I’m kind of the same way, just being myself on stage or recording. That’s something I really admire about her.
It was cool getting to work with such a professional, but then also coming away with a friend as well.
As told to Annie Fell.
