On one sunny morning, two young women performed a deeply moving rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” and fans were absolutely blown away. Folk duo Elle & Toni performed the viral duet on the song, and their voices together are dreamy perfection. Simon & Garfunkel created one of the best duets of all time with this song, and Elle & Toni surely did justice to it with their take on those incredible harmonies.
Toni provided a flawless low-register vocal while Elle soared over the top with a perfectly matched high harmony. All the more impressive is the fact that they both played guitar while singing, with Elle providing rhythm guitar and Toni performing an intricate picking part of surpassing beauty. The Music Man always has time for the songs of Simon & Garfunkel, and this cover surely deserved its success.
Elle & Toni’s cover of “The Sound of Silence” gained a hefty 2.8 million views on their YouTube channel. Fans gave plenty of love below the video, adding comments such as “Speechless… Discovered these girls yesterday and now I can’t seem to stop watching and listening!” and “I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to this song in my lifetime, but I can’t remember one that moved me as much as listening to you talented young women. I must have clicked replay half a dozen times.”
Elle & Toni seem to be on to a winning formula, as they have scored a number of popular videos with their performances. One of The Music Man’s favorites from the pair is their cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.” Musicians have dropped many covers of Young’s romantic classic, but Elle & Toni distinguished themselves yet again with Elle’s mesmerizing vocal performance and Toni’s tasteful harmonica playing.
Elle & Toni are an American indie folk duo featuring Reina del Cid and Toni Lindgren. In addition to indie and folk tunes, their channel features Americana, pop, and rock covers. The pair have garnered quite the following on YouTube, with their covers and original music helping them build up a 472,000-strong subscriber base. Elle founded what later became the Elle & Toni channel in 2007. She initially uploaded her own songs and covers to the channel. In 2011, Elle began working with Toni, and the pair have since uploaded dozens of videos that hit a million views or more on YouTube.