R.D. Thomas - “Welcome to The Deep End”
R.D. Thomas, a Cornish songwriter now living in London, has just released “Welcome to The Deep End,” a gorgeous new track. The tune is an acoustically driven, relentless groove that simply shuffles and pushes forward like a train at full speed. Layered claps and a bouncing kick drum make up the core of the percussion groove, which significantly enhances the persistent, pushing beat. Coolly circling the beat, the breathy and understated vocal creates a groove that makes your head bop. With a few, lovely and short dynamic breaks, the music steadily grows. Electric guitar with a clean delay builds and riffs gradually throughout the song, giving it a cosy, thoughtful vibe. Near the end, this is joined by another clean delayed guitar that perfectly creates a smudge of noise to underline the crescendo of the song.
This song gets top marks from me and R.D. Thomas makes a clear statement as a lyricist, guitarist, and singer. He is also about to release his debut album, What Circus Is This?, which we are all very excited to hear.
Speaking of the album, R.D. Thomas explains, “There's a melancholy to the music, but lyrically there needed to be enough playfulness to make this work. Getting tangled in the big, unanswerable questions is as absurd as it is poignant, I guess that is the theme. The lyrics are the most important thing on this record. The music - even the voice - is just a vehicle for the words. I guess this is the reason I didn’t chase perfection in production values or performances. I just wanted to create a canvas for the words, and to find the right colours for them through music.”