Back in 2014 Tom asked me to review one of his EP’s, but until now that was the only music I had heard of his, so when this his fifth full-length studio album arrived I was looking forward to see what else he had been up to. As I was undertaking some research I managed to come across an old press release of his, where it states “What would it sound like if Nick Cave started writing songs with Genesis after watching too many episodes of Dr Who? How many songs about replacing your body parts with mechanical alternatives is too many? Does the world need a steampunk/sci-fi inspired prog rock act? Tom Slatter set out to answer none of these questions, but accidentally did. Described by the Steampunk Chronicle as, ‘an experiment too far’, Tom’s music sits somewhere between folk singer-songwriter, prog rock and indie rock of the Radiohead and Mansun ilk.”
I actually think the best way to describe Tom’s music is as “English”, nothing more or less. It is progressive, very much in the crossover vein, but it is hard to imagine this music being delivered by anyone who hadn’t grown up in that green and pleasant land. He has an acute observation that is reminiscent of Geoff Mann and John Dexter Jones (note: I am fully aware that JDJ is Welsh and would be traumatized at being called English) and a musical style on this album that is very akin to Jump in their prime. It is quite difficult to do anything else while playing this album (I soon gave up on my book when listening to this the first time), as it drags in the listener, demanding that they pay attention. There is the feeling that this album has been crafted from finest mahogany by a skilled artisan, as opposed to having plastic poured into a mold by automaton.
It is quite different to most of the prog that is around, and all the better for that. All in all this is a special album indeed.
