Not every song begins with the confidence to share it. For Toronto soul artist Tara Van, keeping music private for years preceded a decision to work with friends and confidants.
“Miles On It” makes those relationships part of its creative identity. The four-track EP addresses love, loss and growth, but its guiding idea is practical.
Staying hopeful need not mean doing everything yourself.
Van’s interests reach through vintage soul and neo-soul into blues, jazz and R&B. Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald and Emily King appear among her influences, along with JUNGLE and Thee Sacred Souls.
Rather than promise a copy of those artists, that range helps explain where she feels at home as a singer. She continues to experiment, but increasingly recognises these styles as the right setting for her voice.
Producer Mark Calderone gives that search structure. He also encourages experiment and connects Van with other players, so his contribution extends beyond studio supervision.
Their partnership began through work and referrals outside music. Shared tastes then made collaboration possible, turning an existing connection into a creative relationship.
They recorded the entire EP at Apt Sea Sound, Calderone’s Toronto studio, tattoo parlour and event space. Its former location sat off Broadview, north of Danforth.
That mixed-use setting matters because Van’s approach depends on people meeting and ideas circulating. Her collaborators are friends as well as skilled contributors, bringing a social purpose to the recording process.
“I’m A Vine” includes Tom Moffett on horns and Alex St Kitts on bass. Dan Dwoskin also appears on the EP and helped finish composing “Moving Picture Show”.
The credits give Van’s belief in mutual support a concrete expression. She sums up that outlook with the instruction, “Above all else keep on reaching for the light.”
“Moving Picture Show” began with TIFF50 and a personal reason to celebrate it. Van wrote the song to honour the Toronto International Film Festival, its contribution to the city’s arts and her grandfather.
He is the festival’s only living founder. The tribute therefore links an established cultural institution with someone she knows and loves.
After the opening night, Van contacted Dwoskin to help complete the song. They met at Roy Thomson Hall, writing and playing piano in quiet basement music rooms.
A performance at the opening of a Men In Film TIFF afterparty followed. That sequence gives the song a particularly close connection to the occasion that inspired it.
However, the EP’s concerns reach beyond celebration. Grief, violence and environmental damage shape Van’s writing, alongside criticism of short-term savings that carry lasting costs.
She wants listeners to appreciate what they have and act while they can. Hope here asks something of its audience: care requires effort, especially when change means surrendering familiar comforts.
The clearest recording choice arrives at the end. “Take Your Light Down” retains a raw, one-take studio demo with a drum beat and one microphone.
Calderone plays guitar while Van sings. This arrangement places voice, accompaniment and rhythm within a shared performance, making the act of recording part of the song’s significance.
Think of the difference between a carefully edited message and a voice note kept because the moment matters. That is the appeal of Van’s decision, rather than roughness for its own sake.
Amid her concern about AI and authenticity, she chooses to preserve human connection and keeps the recording’s modest origins intact.
The release show carried that shared spirit onto the stage. Dwoskin played and sang with Emily Steinwall on saxophone, Jeremiah Pick on electric guitar and Corey Weinberg on drums.
Peter Klaassen played bass. For listeners seeking soul with a personal and collaborative foundation, “Miles On It” offers a clear invitation: follow Van’s songs through their concerns, then stay for the unguarded final performance.
