Scottish singer Tommy Ashby returns with an alluring song of love and longing.
Tommy Ashby – Closer
Just over a year after releasing his second EP, ‘Lay Low’, Scottish singer Tommy Ashby is back with a new single ‘Closer’, an “off-kilter lullaby” and the first track from his upcoming debut album ‘LampLighter’ due in March 2023.
Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Sam Okell (Celeste, Graham Coxon, The Beatles) and again featuring his previous collaborator Lydia Clowes, ‘Closer’ occupies the same space as his Pianprevious track ‘Whiplash’ from the ‘Lay Low’ EP, but in a more augmented state.
The piano is much more purposeful, existing as its own entity rather than just as ornamentation, creating an uncertain ambience and laying down the foundations. Ashby’s vocal is more ethereal, seemingly operating at a different level to the piano, yearning and dissociative but linked through the sentiment of the song.
When Ashby sings “Wanna get closer” in the chorus, the track is illuminated and everything becomes unified. The effect is quite transcendent, like souls intertwining, giving credence to the true meaning of the song:
I wanted to create an intimate atmosphere for this song. That timeless feeling you can get when you are with someone and it feels like you are the only two people awake in the world.”
In ‘Closer’, Ashby manages to truly capture a moment, “like bottling lightening”. Clowes’s wispy ‘’La’s’’ and harmonised ‘Oh’s’ further romanticise the track, giving it a dream-like quality. The joy of the song comes in the fact that Ashby has managed to create something that is simultaneously boundless yet intimate and fragile, drawing the listener to experience that moment of bliss and resolution.
Discover more from Tommy Ashby
Discover more on RCM
- Free Music Marketing Training For Independent Artists
- Discover The Music Review Mixtape Vol. 5
- Music Marketing vs Music Promotion Avoid These Three Mistakes
- Push Marketing Is Dead. 10 Ways Independent Artists Can Succeed In 2022
Words Andrew Gutteridge
