New Video: Tom Emlyn - Like a Cigarette

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                 ðŸ“· Bill Stillman

There are pivotal moments in culture that squat in your psyche. To coin a phrase, they remain rent free there and very rarely do they attempt to move out. One such moment for me was seeing the TV series of Dennis Potter's seminal work 'The Singing Detective'. Centering around the character Philip Marlow - played brilliantly by Michael Gambon - two stories interweave between a hospitalised writer dealing with a deeply unpleasant skin condition and a darkly seductive detective story unfolding in his mind, that threatens to take him beyond the realms of sanity. It was years ahead of it's time and has been a consistent influence on those wishing to express the inner workings of their troubled minds.

A tenuous link maybe, but when the new single and accompanying video by Tom Emlyn arrived in my inbox, I couldn't help but think back to 'The Singing Detective' and it's lasting legacy. In the video for 'Like a Cigarette' which you can see below - dating back to 2011 -  Emlyn, just like Marlow, is the fictional Film Noir detective strolling around town trying to find some meaning to his thoughts. In full length trench coat and hat, he heads home as it gets dark and the visuals beautifully mirror the isolated and suspicious sentiments of the lyrics:

All your friends/they smoke you like a cigarette/and the networking event/leaves you lonlier than ever.


Swansea born and bred, Emlyn depicts why he is seen as one of the most respected and inventive songwriters coming out of Wales. Recorded in one take with minimal overdubs, the new single 'Like a Cigarette' was released on March 24th and is built around a cyclical strum and some impassioned vocals that remind me of the best of Stephen Fretwell and Kevin Morby's work. Speaking on how the single came about, Emlyn told how his survival instincts kicked in whilst travelling and was a source of continued inspiration: 
"I ran out of money on something like the second day of the trip, so didn't have the opportunity to be lazy and had to rely on busking for survival, which turned out to be an amazing practise and one of the best things I've done. I was watching people smoking and drinking and wondering why they did it. I started thinking about advertising and the seductive power of imagery. Images which are far removed from the rhythm of everyday life and the monologues of our interior minds eyes. Images which are ultimately disposable, carcinogenic and affect the way we treat other people."
The songs for new retrospective album Return Journey Revisited: Scardycat Vol 1 were mastered by Charlie Francis (Pixies, R.E.M) and is released on May 5th. It's a peak into the treasure trove of material that Emlyn has ammassed in his prolific- if underappreciated - career. To help promote the release, Emlyn will be performing at FOCUS Wales in Wrexham 4-6th May.

You can follow Tom Emlyn at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook


Buy from the Bandcamp link above and all any other links are HERE











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