HAPPY ALMOST FALL!

Happy September and welcome to this month’s edition of the newsletter. There’s some new music, a mini-tour, an unveiling of a long-term project, and studio news below... onward!

NEW TOM MUSIC

Tides (single)

A return to downtempo percussion-driven ambient piano music! This piece really wanted to be finished and even though I’ve been really immersed in making very slow music this year I was glad to take the time to let “Tides” take shape as its own thing. With layers of percussion, multiple electric guitars, lap steel, bass, synths, and piano, I think it fits well beside pieces like "Vervagen" (from Indesterren) or "Shelter." It’s on all the streaming platforms and on Bandcamp for name-your-own-price.

The Clearing on the Hill (one hour version)

This piece originally appeared on Linger as a ten minute version. I liked it so much that I put it first on my Collected Ambient Works compilation, and I’m thrilled with how the hour long version came out. It’s slow, deep, and dreamy. The piece is inspired by the open field and view at the top of Old Town Hill in Newbury, MA. The extended version is available on Bandcamp now for name-your-own-price (including free).

SEVEN CONVERSATIONS

We're taking Seven Conversations on the road to Philly! Jeff, Vin, and I will be playing live at St. Luke's in Bryn Mawr, PA on September 27th. Here's the info!

Whilst in PA we'll be doing another Echoes Living Room Concert with John Diliberto. We're completely unprepared and that's just the way we play best!

I did a quick in-studio video about the track "A Confession" and you can check it out below:

PLATFORM8

This is a big one. For several years I’ve been working on an album with the amazing singer Noah Wilding. It started with me wanting to make music that was a blend of Portishead, Cocteau Twins, and deep ambient music. I was searching for the right singer, and after years of working with Noah at Imaginary Road (but never hearing her sing a word in English) we started talking about the idea, and then we started seeing what happened when we worked together in the studio. The record pushed us both beyond what we're known for, and the end result is so cool. We ended up with a band and an album called Platform8. We are so proud of this music and can’t wait for the world to hear it. It’s not what you might expect from either of us! The first single, “All These Years” (cover below) releases on September 19th, and the full album comes out early next year.

STUDIO MAKEOVER

The loft has been dismantled and remantled into a more functional space for me to work in. After 34 years of collecting keyboards I finally figured out that I play them better when they are at piano height. I’ve moved my most expressive instruments down to playing height from upper tiers and brought things closer to me, and also moved some of my rack synths up to new positions above my Quantum where I can actually interact with them while I play them. Almost everything I make is layers of performance... meaning I don't do a lot of MIDI programming, I just play each part by hand, so it's so nice to have favorite instruments at my fingertips. I’m thrilled to have the Osmose here now (short video coming soon about this amazing instrument) as well as my old friend the Access Virus, with the Quantum and my trusty Rhodes suitcase completing the lower level. My guitars and basses also moved closer to me so I can grab them with less effort, which means I’ll use them more!

AND IN THE CONTROL ROOM...

Work continues on Will Ackerman’s new album. I’m doing some final piano and bass overdubs this week and then on to mixing.

Rob Laurens was back in. I mastered a collection of his home recordings and tracked Billy Novick (sax and clarinet) and Kevin Barry (electric guitars and lap steel) on a different new project. A cd release for a record we finished a little while ago is coming up soon: October 6th at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA.

I’ve just finished up a new album by Kathryn Kaye, the brilliant Colorado-based pianist.

Ann Sweeten was here last week to mix her latest album, due out soon!

Mastered two projects for Jonathan Bousquet... more to come on those soon!

Also did some studio consulting, some acoustics consulting, and some mxing lessons... it’s been busy here!

This is newsletter number thirty-two of 425 or so (depending on the actuarial table you consult), and I am very thankful to you for tuning in to the words here, to my music, and to the music I help shepherd into the world.

Bandcamp remains the best spot to find my music, but of course I’m available in all the usual places...

Thanks, as always, for listening... it really means so much to me!
Please share the newsletter and music with friends you think would like it, and stay in touch!

More to come soon!