Surrey-based indie-rocker Thom Bowden releases his debut album Searching The Brittle Light. Having already gained support from BBC Radio 1, XFM and Amazing Radio’s Rock Show, Thom’s debut EP ‘The Damage’ started to get picked up and hyped by the music blog community, clearly impressed with its quality.

At a low point in his life, Thom began writing his debut album as a form of therapy. The songs became a way of saying things that he struggled to say aloud and they then became a way for him to fight. Writing in a stream of consciousness Searching The Brittle Light is as honest as Bowden could get.

I wasn't looking for perfection, but I think one of the main things that a singer should be able to do is sing in tune. Imagine a track where the guitar is out of tune; the drums are not in time... Outside of some fine art student's project you wouldn't expect this, so why do bands think that people want to listen to the warblings of an off-key singer?

Thom Bowden is more often than not out of tune and it grates after a while. It's not like he's some amazingly talented poet with a political message (like Billy Bragg) whose screeching can be overlooked. The rock tracks work fine, because Bowden's lack of tune is easily hidden. 'Click!' is the best example. This punk based track sees Bowden shouting the lyrics rather than singing them... and this works wonderfully. But on tracks like 'The Water Is Cold', which is a subtle, slow song with many levels to it, a voice that doesn't sound like a screeching cat would have been preferred.

If you can overlook the fact that Bowden can't sing, you may find the beauty that the depth of these songs give up. However, if you can't get past his voice then you're going to hate this.

5

Nick Smithson