‘Multiplying’ And Lorren Chiodo’s Bold New Sound

Photographs and Graphics by Sara Regan

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, arranger, and music director Lorren Chiodo serves us her stunning new release, ‘Multiplying’.

‘Multiplying’ brings to light her most vulnerable track yet, featuring a spell-binding combination of traditional orchestral elements, spine-tingling synths, soulful saxophone and electronica, with lyricism that speaks to the inner cravings of connection. 

Unraveled Edit sat down with Chiodo to dig deep into the track and its production process. 

Her track ‘Multiplying’ was born out of a session earlier this year with her good friend Ruby Smith, who co-produced and mixed the track alongside Chiodo. The track began as just vocals, and over two days working out of a writers’ room in Hollywood, they brought the track to life using her MIDI Saxophone to play with a range of analogue synths. 

Instruments that Chiodo might have been as fluent in, could all be played through her MIDI saxophone, resulting in all the instruments on the track being played by Chiodo, minus the drums and guitar, “which is kind of crazy,” she said. 

With the track coming from a place of vulnerability, focused on craving connection and all the chaos and feelings that come alongside it, I asked when in the writing process if she had struggled with trying to condense that feeling and intense emotion into one track. 

She said, “Oddly enough, it came very simply to me.” “I kind of had the idea started, before we went into the room …it was the ‘I miss trying concept’ [that] was really sticking with me. I missed having the desire to just put effort in, even if it was messy and gross. That was the core kind of principle of it, and then it just kind of filled out from there.” 

This notion is also reflected in the arrangements, adding another layer to the track with Chiodo saying it “makes it way more personal,” with her being behind most of the instrumentation.  “Every sonic element has my kind of voice in there, [which] is weird, but also great, and I've kind of wanted that for myself. I feel like I wanted to put that expression into different instruments, but I haven't been able to.” 

The track sonically takes us from electronic chaos, airy guitars and deep saxophone, reflecting thematic elements within the song. Chiodo says, when setting out to give meaning to musical arrangements, that “it's conscious and sometimes it's unconscious.” “For this song particularly, I knew I wanted the verses to be chaotic, kind of rough, disjointed and a bit dense,” she said. 

“When the guitar comes, it's open, and it's just free and flowing, and you go from synthetic instruments and sounds to the acoustic instruments. That's when the saxophone comes out, and for me, the saxophone is my flowy, free kind of voice, versus my kind of compositional, scory sound design-y self. ““For this song, I definitely did think about, [how] I want those sections of the song to really have contrast, sonically and also conceptually.” 

When Chiodo last spoke to Unraveled Edit for the release of her EP ‘Brain Pain’, Chiodo had started to embrace not separating the lines between orchestral and synth sounds in her music and was becoming comfortable within her artistry. 

When coming into the creation of ‘Multiplying’ after her EP there was a different mentality in her approach. “Brain Pain for me was a bigger conceptual deal, it had a lot more of a build-up, and [had] this vision, and it was a long time coming. I haven't really done anything to that extent before, it was kind of a beginning for me,” she said. “I think it was very much a learning curve and allowed me to let go of these preconceived ideas of what I had to do or who I had to be. Now, with this song, I was just like, we're making music… let's have fun and finish it,” she said.  

The track, in its arrangement and lyricism, is one that Chiodo hopes listeners will interpret the track in a way that helps them. “For me, it was very cathartic to make, and I mentioned before… I've just been the most vulnerable,” she said. “I think it's important, and I hope people resonate [with the] instrumental elements. It's  saxophone, its production, and it's not just a pop track … it's multiple genres, there's multiple sonic things, and it can still be mainstream.” 

She says the track represents how she wants her saxophone to be perceived, not just a small element of the track here and there; that her saxophone playing is “truly a part of the song.” 

‘Multiplying’ is set to be a part of an upcoming EP alongside her prior release, ‘Upstate Summer’, set to be released at the end of the year.

‘Multiplying’ is out now and available to stream wherever you get your music.