The Toy Garden’s new album, “Collide” evokes a feeling of sorrowful beauty and creates an atmosphere of languishing weightlessness. The post rock mastermind behind the solo project is William Alan Haworth. His passion bleeds through this 10 track album, that spans over an hour and fifteen minutes.

Destined to become a musician, both of his parents played in bands, and his mother even performed live while she was pregnant with him. “So I guess I’ve been in music since before I was born”, he said jokingly. He started learning music at a young age on his Father’s drum set. With music in his blood and a strong desire to learn how to write music, he took up the guitar.

With emotionally charged vocals and layers of masterfully painted soundscapes on such tracks as ‘Blood Letting’, it makes you wonder how long it takes for him to write, and record a new song? “Seconds. Years. Just depends.”, William exclaimed. He said the song ‘Pieces’ actually started back in 2005, but it was never finished until now. He also told the story behind another track that is on the new album. ‘There Will Be Nothing Capable’ was finished in just three hours after messing around with a new delay pedal. ‘...it made some weird sounds that I liked, so I recorded a little riff, and then added some more and called it a song.” He tells us the great thing about recording in his basement by himself is that nothing is written in stone. He has the freedom to change parts here and there if he wants, so if he doesn’t like a riff he can either alter it, or just take it out entirely. For example, he said that half of the song ‘You Drown Me’ was not even apart of the original recording. In fact, some of the vocals were actually written to the old version, but he kept them over the new chords anyway.

William is always writing new songs, which excites us here at Bella, because we love listening to his music! We asked if he was compiling a new album, and he replied, saying that many of his songs were in the recording phase, and doesn’t know at the moment which ones would go well together in an album. He is considering doing a William Alan album, which will contain more singing. He says his vision is that it will be closer to a singer/songwriter album than anything he has done previously. He is also thinking of collaborating with other artists like he did with his new album ‘Collide’. Either way, we are sure to love it!

After asking what band he most identifies his style with, this was the response he gave us. “I try not to identify with any one band in particular. I never want to be that band that sounds like that other band. I would say this album has a lot more This Will Destroy You influences than any other.” He says there is also some Russian Circles, and Mouth of the Architect inspiration in this album too. He says that lately he has been listening to a variety of bands from different genres. “Listening to the same type of sound can hinder my creativity,” He tells us that he has been listening to a lot of Chelsea Wolfe, Daughter, Cloud Kicker, and Fear Before the March of Flames. He says that they all have great talent in creating a sound as a whole that just makes him feel good about life.

I highly recommend you check out his newly released album ‘Collide’, it will blow your socks off with how extraordinarily soothing it is. You can also find him on Facebook to get updates on his projects.