MF Tomlinson Announces His Debut Album "Strange Time", and Shares the Title Track Single/Video
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MF Tomlinson, the project of London-based Australian singer-songwriter Michael Tomlinson, announces the release of "Strange Time", the title track from his debut album of the same name due for release in 2021.
Arriving alongside psychedelic visuals courtesy of visual artist Tomas Jefanovas, "Strange Time" is a stark, at times brutal reminder of the confusing and distressing situation the globe finds itself in, delivered with Tomlinson’s signature wry humour; "I'm trying to fathom the tragedy now and hereafter" he admits at the track's moment-of-realisation midpoint.
Those words are a good marker for what MF Tomlinson quickly realised he was concocting with his debut album. Quickly following his debut EP 'Last Days of Rome', Strange Time was written slap-bang in the middle of 2020; Tomlinson, confined to his home, created a stripped-back home studio set up and the songs immediately began to flow.
Commenting on the process, Tomlinson said: "Lots of things started to click, not just in terms of the songs but on a deeper level - it was a time of immense growth as a writer. I felt a new level of freedom in the music I was making."
In essence, MF Tomlinson is the solo work of Michael Tomlinson. Dig a little deeper though and you uncover an intriguing new layer to the project. Calling upon a global network of collaborators and musical friends to bring Strange Time to life – a network he refers to as his "MF's" – Tomlinson and his MF's explore a rich tapestry of sounds and influences.
"My solo project is definitely a group effort," Tomlinson says. "I’m incredibly lucky to collaborate with a wide network of creatives - I like to call them the MF’s because they’re all insanely talented mother fuckers. They come from all over the world - Turkey, Japan, Finland, New Zealand as well as of course the UK. The recording process for this release basically involved sending out a demo, having a chat on the phone and waiting to see what came back. I was never disappointed - god bless the internet."
At times tapping into the sardonic Americana of Father John Misty, at others aligning more with the considered folk of Bill Callahan, Kevin Morby and Aldous Harding; across its 6 tracks and 32 minute run time MF Tomlinson joyously dissects a time in our lives where happiness has often been so difficult to uncover.
Speaking more on the release of the new single and album title track, Tomlinson added: "Strange Time is the phrase that you can’t escape these days - it’ll come up in almost every conversation you have. It’s a purely autobiographical song, in a world so bizarre that it almost feels like writing in character. I was driven, almost to an unhealthy extent, to get this song out. As things shut down I felt I was sinking into a sleepy, anxious, twilight world that these languorous chords seemed to capture. I just had to find the right words."
Luckily, the right words came. "Strange Time", and its name-sake album both capture a time that we would all perhaps prefer to forget – but these 6 tracks will certainly be ones to cherish and remember upon a (hopeful) return to normality.