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New Zealand solo artist Thomston has announced his secondly highly anticipated EP to be released in April.
Thomston’s new EP, ‘Backbone’, is a vivid and brooding snapshot of suburban teenage transitions, suggesting a talent on the ascent barely a year into his career. It exposes a mix of the intricate futuristic electronics of SOHN with the soulful croon of Justin Timberlake.
The album comes after the international success of last years ‘Argonaut’ EP, which has been streamed over 4 million times on Spotify; leading to the 19 year old being named as One To Watch from the likes of Billboard and Triple J.
Thomston mainly writes whilst wandering around his empty neighbourhood in the early hours, which lends a nocturnal atmosphere and lyrical openness that sit beyond his years.
The crisp groove of ‘Grey’, for instance, captures a tight-knit group of friends whose individual ambitions to go places might one day push them apart, whilst the hip-hop-infused ‘To and Fro’ depicts a dead-end local romance. Friendship and questions about the future ultimately abound throughout: ‘Second To You’ suggests a cut-and-run from those who don’t pull their weight in your life, whilst the vaguely unsettling Bon-Iver ambience of ‘Collarbones’ in fact addresses a friend developing an eating disorder (who has since pulled through).
Taking the frustrations and freedom of small-town adolescence as a backdrop, Thomston soon reached a crossroads of his own: he completed high-school the same year his song-writing flourished, with the gamble of music on one side and a sturdy potential degree to study Urban Planning at University on the other.
In the end, Thomston’s choice was made for him when some early demos were passed to Lorde’s management, who offered to jump on board. And whilst comparisons between the two are inevitable, Thomston (aka Thomas Stoneman) appears to be on his own path, at his own pace: after signing a deal with management but becoming impatient, he quietly researched a list of blogs and sent them a debut EP himself!
It appears this pace and aspiration is set to continue as exciting things lie ahead for this prodigy, just confirming his first European tour.
May 12 Paris, Les Etoiles
May 14-16 Brighton, The Great Escape Festival
*Further dates to be announced shortly, along with further details of the ‘Backbone’ EP