Zweng – Toronto Tapes (2025)
Some albums mark a chapter, and then some albums draw a line in the sand. Toronto Tapes is the latter.
For indie-rock artist Zweng, this record is less a return and more a rebirth. Written during a year of hard-won sobriety and inner excavation in Toronto, the album doesn’t just tell a story, it is the story. Blending raw reinterpretations of classics with hauntingly personal originals, Zweng charts his path from chaos to clarity with disarming vulnerability.
After years spent chasing success across California’s psych-rock scene and behind-the-scenes TV composition, Zweng reached a breaking point. Eventually veering away from his dreams and paying the price emotionally and spiritually, in stepping away from substances, he stepped back into his purpose, crafting songs that sound like confessions whispered through static. Recorded at Kensington Sound Studios with producer Will Schollar, the album captures the imperfect beauty of starting over in real time.
From the triumphant opening track ‘(It’s Good) To Be Free’, a defiant nod to Oasis, to the aching intimacy of ‘Marianne’, written for the mother he’s still learning to understand, Zweng’s music feels like a letter from a man unafraid to face himself. Even his covers, ‘Pet Sematary’, ‘Take On Me’, ‘Uptown Girl’, aren’t just tributes; they’re transformations. He strips these songs down and rebuilds them with meaning that’s painfully, personally his own.
The emotional depth of Toronto Tapes is grounded by Zweng’s lived experience. Whether grappling with relapse, memory, or generational trauma, the album reflects an artist who no longer wants to run. Now studying at Abbey Road Institute in London, Zweng is laying the foundation for a new phase, one where music and meaning are inseparable. Two more albums, Virtual Outpatient Therapy and Hampstead Headways, are already on the horizon.
For now, Toronto Tapes stands alone as a fearless document of what it means to fall apart and choose to come back. Not with fanfare or finality, but with grace and grit. Zweng doesn’t ask to be your next favourite artist, he dares you to listen closely and see if your own story echoes back.
Find out more about Zweng on his Instagram, X, Spotify, and official website.
