Tommy Double Shot

Tommy's Outer Space Adventurer record has definitely been one of the years highlights for me. It's an outstanding record packed with an immense arsenal of sounds and moods, the Synthetix review of which can be found here. And now after a short hiatus Tommy has returned with two new tracks, taking on new themes and sounds while he develops his own musical destiny.



First up is Discover. The introductory portion of Discover feels like an epilogue to Outer Space Adventurer, a parting glance at a galaxy we've befriended, but have had to move on from. This track evolves as it swirls through a new cosmos. The undulating Tommy melodies feel slightly more bent and askew as their pitch and yaw shatters earthly dimensions. A constrained rhythm holds things together, but only just. There's a pronounced feeling that at any moment the entire movement could collapse upon itself and fold into the void of a black hole.

It's this frailty of the sound that is so beautiful. Like much of Tommy's previous work it's very esoteric at it's core, bloomed in a lightness that dazedly orbits around a blue sun in it's own meandering manner. The journey is without mishap, however, and the constriction of time feels very apparent. At a length of four minutes and thirty five seconds it feel less than two and half. Has Tommy discovered the secret to musical time travel through synthesized new dimensions? One can't be sure, but early signs are beginning to point to yes.



The altered states continue to develop into somnambulant directions with Tommy's second new piece: Lovely Dreams. The dreamscape of the imagination is a fertile ground for synth artists, since the early synthesizer music in 70s this has been a muse for much inspiration. Tommy's Lovely Dreams is a bit more of a departure from his previous work and this track comes across as a more realised and tactile emotion that would have been used as a segue or interlude previously. This is not the case though as the depth of this work goes well into R.E.M stage and beyond.

Tommy manages to make all his music feel like it's floating above us, and with an arm extended to it the music will carry us up and beyond the earthly realms we're bonded too. Flying feelings are often felt in dreams and this track aurally does this to us. Visions of clouded skies parting to azure oceans above as our mind is carried into the innermost subconscious realisations through a synthual atmosphere of ecstacy.

When it's time to awaken from this journey one can't help be feel a sense of wonder that shines like gold and glows like neon. This bodes very well for the future of Tommy, and with any luck we'll be taken by the hand once again for even more soulshaping excurions into the worlds he creates.

Both tracks are available for FREE download, so please make sure you get them while you can, or like some dreams, they might disappear sooner rather than later.