Dolo Tonight, born Jonah Elias Rindner, is an American indie rock artist signed to Epitaph Records whose music and aesthetic combine narrative concepts, pastel visuals, and eccentric lyricism into a world of their own. His work reflects the influence of surrealist cartoons, VHS-era nostalgia, and absurdist comedy, placing him in a lineage of artists who have treated music as immersive storytelling.
Raised in Watchung, New Jersey, Rindner was drawn early to shows like The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Adventure Time, and The Amazing World of Gumball. He also absorbed the surrealist humor of Adult Swim programs such as The Eric Andre Show and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. These influences shaped his approach to music as something unpredictable, cartoonish, and slightly chaotic, using humor and surrealism as creative tools.
His fascination with physical media culture also informs his work. Bootleg VHS tapes, second-hand DVDs, and retro television shows serve as touchstones for his 2025 debut album on Epitaph, DVD Rental Store. Designed as a concept project, the record was structured to resemble a cinematic rental-store collection, with interludes, skits, and callbacks tying the songs together into one larger narrative. Each track was built around its own story, with characters, costumes, and imagery created to exist within the same surreal world.
Before the album, Dolo released the single Stranger Things in 2024. Its music video featured a giant papier-mâché head as a visual centerpiece, setting the stage for the surreal handmade aesthetic that would define his later work.
The album rollout emphasized collaborative and DIY artistry. Dolo enlisted close friends to construct costumes and props by hand, many of them inspired by bootlegged Japanese films and early-2000s television aesthetics. This approach gave each video and visual its own distinct texture while keeping the entire project unified as part of the same cartoon-like universe.
Hate You Now and Hotel on Your Heart, released as singles in 2025, carried this aesthetic into their video treatments, staged with colorful, handmade costumes and VHS-inspired imagery. When the full album arrived later that year, Two Pens emerged as its focus track, presenting friendship through eccentric lyrics and pastel cartoon visuals. Live Your Life balanced a straightforward melodic hook with surreal imagery and became Dolo Tonight’s first track to enter the UK’s Official Singles Downloads Chart.
The sound of DVD Rental Store was shaped by producer Ryan Spraker and mastered by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone. Together they created a hybrid style that merged pop hooks with indie rock instrumentation, designed to support the cinematic and conceptual qualities of the album.
Visually, Dolo Tonight’s presence reinforces the same ethos. Known for his bright pastel clothing, he often favors outfits that feel nostalgic and friendly, reminiscent of a 2000s-era art teacher. The style is comfortable yet expressive, playful yet approachable, and it reflects the same happy, colorful energy that runs through his music. His curly hair and easygoing aesthetic contribute to the overall identity of the project, positioning his look as part of the same cartoon-inspired world.
Although he is not the first artist to construct a fictional universe around his music, Dolo Tonight approaches it through a distinctive blend of indie rock, cartoon surrealism, and DIY aesthetics. Each song on DVD Rental Store was designed to function as a character-driven story, while the visuals expanded those stories into living imagery. Taken together, his catalog represents an attempt to create a cartoon-inspired, VHS-era world in music form, one that positions him as part of a contemporary wave of artists treating records not just as collections of songs but as expansive universes of their own.