Like so many of us, Adelaide singer-songwriter Tom West received a few curveballs in 2020. He was based in Brooklyn and ready to take the world by storm when the pandemic hit and encouraged Tom to rethink his plans. He returned home and decided to hire out an old farmhouse in Mount Crawford to work on the songs he began conceiving in late 2015 and early 2016.
“Some friends and I moved all the furniture out of the living room and set up a makeshift studio and spent a week recording the batch of songs with a band over a week,” he said.
That spontaneous, honest energy comes through in Tom’s latest single “Gimme What You Got,” which comes from his forthcoming album I’m Livin’. It’s been some time getting to us, but that’s because of another curveball. The day after packing up his temporary studio, Tom got word that his father had motor neurone disease and only a short time to live. The songs he’d been working on didn’t feel right at that moment, so he shelved them to work on his 2020 release, Antarctica.
“In some ways I’m Livin’ is a bit of a prequel to that album,” Tom explained.
2020 hit Tom West harder than most, but he’s determined that 2021 will be brighter. Look out for I’m Livin’ and a whole stack of shows from this talented singer-songwriter this year.
Image used with permission from Footstomp Music