Chilean composer, performer, and producer Edmundo Toloza T, who goes by the artist name cel gris, draws from an artistic upbringing in the rainy Chilean south and a modern appreciation for music, cinema, and the simple things (coffee, olives, family) to create sonic worlds expansive in scope. Minimal would be an understatement, and discernible musical ideas are cosily blanketed by layers of effects and experimentation to create a single clean result. Listen closer and you'll hear worlds unfolding. After recently discovering his 2022 collection, El Cielo Sobre Nosotros, on Bandcamp, we caught up with him to learn more about his creative process.
Hello cel gris! Thanks for taking the time to speak to me. How are you today?
Hi! I'm very well, enjoying the fall season here in Chile. I'm a winter person.
Could you share some background on how you started making music and your experiences of it so far?
Could you share some background on how you started making music and your experiences of it so far?
My interest in music began at a very young age. My parents and my family in general are (and still are in newer generations) very interested in the arts, so I grew up surrounded by books, records, films, etc., in a wooded, rainy university town in southern Chile. But my real interest in music came in my teens when I started exploring the record collections of my cousins and older friends, and that opened up a whole new world, especially things like Van der Graaf Generation, Robert Wyatt, the Chilean new folk movement, 60´s jazz, and definitely local and international punk and post-punk music, which blew my mind. Then came discovering The Jesus and Mary Chain, and everything shifted towards an interest in atmospheres, texture and noise.
From there, my interest in ambient, early post-rock, shoegaze, isolationism, and lo-fi developed. Record labels as Arbor, Evelyn Records, Kranky, Infraction were very important to me. A very interesting scene also developed in Chile, following very similar parameters, with projects like LEM, Cancer, Hombre de la Atlántida, Congelador, SK30, Mankacen, and Shogún, to name a few.
I participated in various projects from a young age. While interesting, they never really came to fruition, but the real objective was more the love of music than the actual release of anything. Then came finishing university and entering the workforce, becoming a parent, and I gradually set aside these projects, but I never stopped recording, whether on 4 track cassette or later with some cheap interface when digital became established. It was around 2016-2017 when I revisited those ideas I'd been working on alone and decided to set up a basic workspace to hit the red button and let things flow.
So far, the experience has been very enjoyable, at my own pace, very intuitive, very much about letting time pass without pressure, letting things come to fruition or not. I work without putting pressure on myself, I create my own graphics, I mix and master by ear, an if I want I put everything aside to go for a walk, talk to my son, read, watch a film or sleep the whole afternoon
I'm very grateful for the feedback I've received despite not editing regularly, and that's something I've discussed with friends who are also in the ambient music scene—that unusual rhythm in today's world that is immensely appreciated by us
Your music is very absorbing and calming, could you tell us a bit about the production and technical side of composing such sounds?
Since it's a completely independent project, there's obviously no traditional production process. I usually start by reviewing and grouping demos or small sketches, recorded both on cassette and digitally, that could potentially become something more substantial. From there, I add or remove elements depending on whether they work or not.
Most of the time, I compose with electric and electro-acoustic guitars, creating a melodic figure that I then color with effects pedals: distortion, fuzz, bitcrushers, equalizer, lo-fi modulation, loopers, granular effects, delays, and reverbs. I really like using a reverb with a very long decay at the beginning of the chain to create a sustained sound flow. I use mono cassette and microcassette recorders to add textures, which I then reprocess (or not) through this chain.
I also use synthesizers from time to time. I currently have a Sonicware Texturelab and I'm very happy with it; it's very simple to use and has a lo-fi quality that I really like.
For recording, I use a Behringer SL-75C microphone to capture acoustic sounds, a Fostex X-12 4-track cassette recorder, and for the final stereo recording, an 8-track Zoom R12. Then that goes into Reaper where I do the mixing and equalization. Sometimes I record directly to my Mac through an interface, but I get tired of being in front of the screen for too long. I mix and master with headphones and the Mac's internal speakers. I don't usually record too many layers; it might be 3, 5, or often just one stereo track, and that's it.. I try to keep things simple and straightforward, so I maintain a small space in my apartment where everything is always connected for recording without too much fuss.
Would you say your personality is reflected in your music? If so, how?
Tough question, maybe someone who knows me should answer it, haha. All joking aside, I think so. There's something of my personality in it: the unhurried pace of life, a certain tendency towards contemplation, a generally very stable, constant personality. As someone once told me: "You're grounded while looking at the clouds go by and drift away."
Your last album El Cielo Sobre Nosotros was inspired by “the rain, the wind and the cloudy valleys of southern Chile”, could you expound a bit on how the environment influences your work? And also how about Chile in general? What’s the ambient music scene like there?
The environment definitely influences me; it becomes something that’s always present. As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in southern Chile, where the climate is cold, rainy, and full of vast forests and lakes—something like a mix between New Zealand, the Alps, and Canada, haha. Growing up there means spending long winters indoors, which easily leads to introspection, watching a lot of films, listening to a lot of music, and reading. The sound of rain and storms approaching or receding, the crackling of wood in the fireplace, watch the trees sway in the wind—these are sounds and images that always accompany me and that I relive every time I spend time there visiting my family, where I hope to return permanently in the future.
Something similar happens to me in the capital city where I live most of the time, but this time in a more Mediterranean climate (central Chile), flanked by the ever-present Andes Mountains and valleys. This time, however, the immersion is in the city itself, especially at sunset when the lights begin to come on and the pace slows. I love going for walks aimlessly, listening to music and the urban sounds, where that constant murmur also captivates me.
I must add the social and political environment to which I am neither indifferent nor want to be, especially in times of the rise of fascism and the extreme right, the dumbing down of the masses (idiocracy), the genocides in Gaza and Sudan, the misuse of technology as a means of manipulation and power, and the turmoil of the world stage. One must take a stand against all that crap.
I think everything I've described seeps into my work constantly, where the controlled noise and the slow, blurred flow of the melody seem to reflect those overlapping layers of perception and memory. Storms on the distance.
The ambient scene in Chile is small but quite active, with very interesting projects ranging from highly conceptual works bordering on sound art (Chile has had experimentation and exploration of electric and electroacoustic sound since the 1950s, so there's always interest and festivals dedicated to it), to dense and noisy works, and others that are closer to psychedelic rock and folk. Some names I'd like to highlight are LEM, a pioneering duo in the scene since the early 1990s, bahía mansa, MUBE, Trampaluz, Winétt, Bios, Asunción, Irreales del Monte, Ihá, Falso Documental, p0l1p0k3t!, Francisco Juancida, Insecto, Vilaret, Darla Quintana, Miguel Hernández and the work of labels like EMA Recordings, Aglomeración and
Pueblonuevo.
Your music (admirably) doesn’t appear to be on any of the major streaming services, is that a conscious choice?
Yes, it was a deliberate decision, at least on Spotify. I never liked their interface, sound, business model and lack of ethics. Despicable. I like Tidal, and I use YouTube quite a bit as a research and listening tool. Some things have been uploaded there that are practically impossible to find even on Soulseek, Archive.org, or similar sites. I'm a Mac user, so Apple is always around, almost unavoidably. I have reservations about all of them; it's almost impossible to find something completely untainted and ethical, but there are definitely some places I simply don't want to be involved with.
For now, I'm sticking to uploading my material to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube. But in the future some releases will likely be uploaded to other platforms, due to the policies of some labels, or the need to promote collaborative work where the other party does use streaming. I have no problem with that as long as it's done amicably and based on strong arguments. Well, it's the ambient scene, intelligent and sensible people, so it's difficult for relationships to be anything but friendly and educated.
From a practical standpoint, apart from Bandcamp, I don't usually listen to music online. For mobile listening, I use a Fiio Snowsky portable player where I load albums that I want to listen to when I go out. At home I use my computer, a transistor radio, cassette players and a turntable.
What are your experiences of releasing music in 2026 in general? It feels like a surreal time in the culture right now or maybe that’s just me…
The current global moment definitely feels like a dystopia, and of course the art and music scene is affected, whether directly by anti-culture policies or by the sheer density of everything that's happening. The important thing, I think, is to transform all this complexity into forms of expression that allow us to grapple with it. Music doesn't change the world, but in my case, and in the case of the people I care about, it stimulates new ways of feeling, thinking, and facing life. A form of resistance, as Deleuze and Guattari suggest? I think so.
What would a perfect day look like for you?
Waking up whenever my body decides, a strong coffee while listening to an album, going out for lunch with my son. Then a long walk and coming back home to record something, watch a good film, and enjoy a glass of wine.
Alternative: sleeping all day, waking up only halfway through to change the album, put on another endless film, or eat cheese and olives.
Are you working on anything currently?
Yes, in fact, a collaborative album with rsn (Thomas Rosen, from B O L T and momentarily records) called ¨intricacy #1¨ is coming out next month, on July 3rd by the Somnimage label. We recorded it last year, sending each other files with long, textured drone improvisations, where I generally provided a kind of sonic framework upon which Thomas unfolded dense figures. I think we achieved something very interesting. I'm very excited about Somnimage since it's a label that has been active for over 20 years and has released music by people I admire.
They are extensive recordings, so there will be two outings. The first part will be released now and part two (intricacy#2) will be released in the second half of the year. They will be physical CD editions and also digital downloads, Thomas took care of the artwork, and it will be a beautiful edition.
Besides that, I have quite a bit of material that I'm going to release on my Bandcamp soon, probably grouped into two or three tracks each. For a while I thought about putting together a full album, but I've always liked the EP concept.
I think a more prolific pace is coming.
I’ve asked you a lot of questions today, do you have any for me?
What time do you prefer to work on your writing? Is there a time of day or night when creativity or concentration is best for you?
I'm most certaintly a night owl, it's 3:25am as I type! I'm listening to your music right now, while working on this article, and it has been lovely to listen to your work while reading the answers to my (admittedly intrusive) questions. Your words are almost as atmospheric as your music. I can picture misty, tree-laden Chilean hills as I read and listen. Thanks so much!