• Music
  • Bio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Contact

Tobias Lilja

  • Music
  • Bio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Contact

Biography

Tobias was born in the small Swedish town, Anderstorp, in 1984. His musical interest was awoken at an early age and very much encouraged by his older brothers who gave him access to their record collections. When he was 7 years old he got Kraftwerks’s album “Man Machine” as a hand down from his eldest brother and he would listen to the album on repeat. It was the sounds that fascinated him most, the feel of them and their different textures.

When he was around 11 years old he was introduced to making music on an AMIGA computer by one of his older brothers. A few years later this brother also gave him his hardware sampler and Tobias started recording his own sounds.

At 17 he had his first official release on “Chillosphy vol.1” by the Malmö label Digital Structures. Two years later, in 2003, he released his first full-length album “Ex-Leper” on the Philadelphia label Nonresponse.

After high school he went on to study music engineering at the University of Växjö and after finishing his studies he got a job as sound technician and producer at a studio in Växjö. It was during this period he made his first vocal experiments. Up to this point, Tobias’ music had been purely instrumental, but the experimentation in the studio made him discover the potential of his own voice as part of the musical composition.

The job in the studio was a great learning experience, but wanting to get more theoretical input, in 2005 Tobias moved to Malmö and enrolled in a bachelor program in Media and Communication Science. During this time he also started working with sound art and sound design for film and video.

During his BA studies, he released his second full-length album, “Time Is On My Side”, with the Oakland based label n5MD in 2007. This is the first release where Tobias is using his voice. The attention to sound and what it does for the vibe of the music is very manifest on this album. It has a character of dark and complex ambient with an almost fleeting sensation.

After finishing his degree in 2008, Tobias started working as a freelancer doing sound design for films and working as a music producer and composer for various theatre pieces, short films and sound art projects.

In 2011 he released his third full-length album “Delirium Portraits”, the 2nd release with n5MD. The ambient element from “Time Is On My Side” is still there, but the landscape has been expanded with more beat oriented structures. The dark element of serene melancholy is just as present as ever, but the palette has been expanded with glimpses of something almost resembling black irony or maybe even a dark, twisted sense of humor. Lyrically “Delirium Portraits” sees Tobias’ moving more in the direction of storytelling.

In 2011 Tobias started working as an audio designer for the video game studio Tarsier Studios in Malmö. Shortly after starting at Tarsier, Tobias also got a bigger studio space. Moving the studio out of his apartment enabled him not only to be louder and experiment more with his voice, but also to incorporate a lot more hardware studio gear and acoustic percussion instruments in the recording process. The “Medicine Sings Triptych” was all recorded here and the tracks all bear witness to the extended possibilities at his disposal. 

Tobias continues to do freelance work for various clients, both as a sound designer and composer. He still lives in Malmö, Sweden.

Written by CaroLine
 

Photo by Anna Moberg

Photo by Anna Moberg

Photo by Anna Moberg

Photo by Anna Moberg

Albums

Title Format Label Year Catalog #
Little Nightmares II (Original Soundtrack) CD/digital Bandai Namco 2021 n/a
Little Nightmares (Original Soundtrack) CD/digital Bandai Namco 2017 n/a
Medicine Sings Triptych Digital Medicine Songs 2015 MSD004
Delirium Portraits CD/digital  n5MD 2011 CATMD191
Time Is On My Side CD/digital n5MD 2007 CATMD142
Ex-leper CD/digital Nonresponse 2003 NR-004

Singles & EP's

Title Format Label Year Catalog #
There Is No Other (Degenesis trailer mix) Digital Medicine Songs 2015 MSD005
Flaming Mouth EP Digital Medicine Songs 2015 MSD003
White Shell EP Digital Medicine Songs 2015 MSD002
Medicine Sings EP Digital Medicine Songs 2015 MSD001
Alles Ist Gut (D.A.F. tribute) Digital Medicine Songs 2015 n/a
North EP Digital  n5MD 2011 CATMD190
Manifesto EP (as "Airborn") CD-r n/a 2002 n/a
Tendencies EP (as "Aztech") CD-r n/a 2001 n/a

Remixes


Title
Release
Label, year
Catalog #
Format
PMtoyou - Turn Red (Flaming Mouth remix)
Turn Red by PMtoyou
PMtoyou, 2014
Digital
Fredrik - Rites Of Spring (Tobias Lilja remix)
Ornament EP by Fredrik
Kora Records, 2012
DKR-004
Digital
Tobias Lilja - Morocco (Rotoskop remix)
Delirium Portraits (n5mailorder only)
n5MD, 2011
CATMD191
Digital
Tjaer+Fjer - You Can't Manage It All (Tobias Lilja remix)
Transits by Tjaere+Fjer
Tjaer+Fjer, 2011
FJER002
Digital
Tobias Lilja - Blood Tracer (Architect remix)
The Reconstruction of Fives (various artists)
n5MD, 2010
CATMD182
CD/digital
Robyn - None Of Dem (Tobias Lilja remix)
Exclusive for Beatportal.com
n/a, 2010
Digital
Hecq - Steeltongued (Tobias Lilja remix)
Steeltongued by Hecq
Hymen, 2009
¥772
2xCD/digital
Droidlocks - Black Metal (Tobias Lilja remix)
Exclusive for Myspace
Droidlocks, 2009
Digital
Housewife Lovers - Dancing (Tobias Lilja remix)
Housewife Lovers EP by Housewife Lovers
Eckworks, 2008
Vinyl/digital
Loess - Talus (Tobias Lilja remix)
One Five Zero (various artists)
n5MD, 2007
CATMD150
2xCD/digital
Diane Cluck - My Teacher Died (Tobias Lilja remix)
One Five Zero (various artists)
n5MD, 2007
CATMD150
2xCD/digital
Tobias Lilja - My Authority (subtractiveLAD remix)
One Five Zero (various artists)
n5MD, 2007
CATMD150
2xCD/digital
Vibrasphere - Late Winter Storms (Tobias Lilja remix)
Archipelago Remixed by Vibrasphere
Digital Structures, 2007
DIGCD019
CD
Son Kite - Let Us Be (Aztech remix)
Colours Remixes by Son Kite
Digital Structures, 2004
DIGCDS04
CD

Collaborations

© Tobias Lilja 2021

  • Log out
Powered by Bandzoogle