Lone Striker Releases Debut Self-Titled Album- Out Now via Safe Suburban Home Records (UK) Repeating Cloud (US) and Hidden Bay Records (Europe)
Tom Brown is a name that has frequented the pages/archives of Circuit Sweet posts over the years. We’ve seen this musician release some incredible records through his bands Rural France (Meritorio Records) and Teenage Tom Petties (Safe Suburban Home and Repeating Cloud). Now, a new project for Tom is that of Lone Striker.
Lone Striker has just released a brand new 11-track album and the record is a beautiful masterpiece. Warm, intimate and expressive. The new record is out via the mighty Safe Suburban Home here in the UK but also through the equally impressive Repeating Cloud in the US and Hidden Bay Records in Europe.
The new album has taken 5 years to create. Captured at home using a selection of bedroom instruments, and augmented by wobbly doo-wop samples, off-kilter soul drum loops and found sounds, Tom has spent five years making a record that takes a lifelong love of warped Americana (think: Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev, Silver Jews) and puts it through a very British lens. A patchwork of sounds and stories, beamed from a broken transistor radio.
The album commences with “Blip One” and from the first introduction, the audience embraces this warmth emitting from the hiss and the organic textures captured throughout. A track that delivers this emotive soundscape and warbling vocal melodies, melancholic tones and this heartfelt colour, you’ll be hooked immediately and appreciate the grandeur of the intimacy of this songwriting.
That delicate rhythm that plays from the first track evolves throughout the following singles, this album needs to be appreciated by listening to the record as one, in full as intended. To hear and take in the triumphant tones and embrace the emotive currents that stir throughout.
The second track “Dunno” which was the album’s first single shared, features one of the first guests on the record, Billy Fuller of BEAK>, who lends his beautiful bass lines to the complexity of the ensemble. Filled with stunning horns and bountiful percussive beats, delicate guitar rhythms and a tender touch to the vocal harmonies. The combination creates this serene voyage that allows this intimacy to shine through and captivate.
The addictive passages found in that single is something that flows to the rest of the album. This record, whilst still very much delivering something that screams Tom, also captures a record full of further variety, expressionism and infectious noodles. “Never Blown A Kiss” takes on this golden warmth from the standout vocal melodies that touch on a melancholic movement. Where as “Cursed Like Roy” differs again with this robust 60s charm and then the slower tempo and looping whistle tones in “Pinnochio” completely blow you away, leaving a very infectious take. One of the most sublime and euphoric tracks on the album is “Cling”, this slower anthemic piece is ready to instil the lyrics into your world.
This record is ready to dazzle and carries this immense weight, the tones and textures capture this inspiration from various years and genres and the power and energy put into Lone Striker will withstand the test of time. Innovative arrangements that thread a compelling place in your world, relatable and warm whilst originality bleeds through.
https://safesuburbanhomerecords.bandcamp.com/album/lone-striker
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