Sarah Knows Nothing About Music- Beat Tape 2, Tom Misch

My God I’m on a role- review number 3! Give me a desk in an intimidatingly-designed office where everything is made by Apple, I’m a journalist god damnit (I understand in reality I am about as far away as physically possible from this but let me live my mid noughties fantasy).

This next recommendation is a world away from the rock stylings of Dream Wife, and indeed of Coheed and Cambria. It comes from friend 3, who magically managed to recommend one album in one go, giving me one thing to do rather than a scarily long list of artists I don’t know. Thanks for that friend. Let’s get it:

Before the album

I’m so impressed with my friends. They all a) have really interesting, diverse music tastes and b) have a great sense of what I’ve heard of and what I haven’t. Friend 3 has hit the nail on the head once again: I have not heard of Tom Misch at all, except for possibly having seen his name on posters in the Tube. Maybe. But that’s it. I assume it’s one person, who’s a guy called Tom Misch- honestly this would be a pretty naff name for a band.

Very First Thoughts

Sometimes in my classes at the hagwon I teach at, the students have to practise memorising presentations they’ve written, for me to film them in class (trust me I am going somewhere with this). For the more chill, diligent students, I often put on some wordless lo-fi study music so that they don’t have to sit in silence but also don’t get too distracted by what they’re hearing. My music selection here normally comes from typing “lo-fi study music” into YouTube and clicking on that same live stream everyone else watches. Honestly, this album sounds…a LOT like that in the beginning. Not that it isn’t well done, just… feels sort of background-y to me. It also takes me a hot second to figure out that the mysterious ‘Tom’ is obviously making the music of these songs, given that the vocalist (when there is one) is different every time, and not always male. I feel like I should be gently bopping my head while holding an overpriced coffee in South London.

As the album goes on

I mean, it does still sound background-y to my ears (I can hear the NME gagging to hire me with my beautiful descriptions as I type), but I think this is more a case of gentle music rather than forgettable. Quite a few of these songs are instrumental, and they grab my attention less, but there’s more fun to be found in the songs with lyrics. Not that the lyrics strike me in a particular way (I’m not sure that they’re supposed to), but they just seem to add another layer that make these tracks a bit more substantial. These richer songs seem to appear more at the end of the album, like we entered a house party before most of the guests had really warmed up, and as the night went on things started to liven up.

When the album finishes

Yeah this was definitely an album to get you sloooowly ready to do some proper groovin’ (do I sound more like your Mum or your Dad when I say that?). I’m very aware that everything I’m saying about this music makes me sound more like your Auntie who thinks you do drugs because you have one tattoo and once had pink highlights, but hey, I’m not cool and funky. Nonetheless, this album really is, and I enjoy how it’s delicate enough to never sound clunky or overwhelming. Reading about Misch, he’s apparently a multi-instrumentalist, which makes sense with how well everything plays together here. The first minute of Hark is entirely on piano before introducing a beat, but it works, whilst Beautiful Escape and Home sprinkle in instruments (steel drum sounds and violins respectively…I think) that add a nice difference to the overall sound.

I also always appreciate any music that sounds like a season, because how the fuck do you do that? The melodies and arrangements here feel like summer and sunshine, and not just because at least two songs mention the latter. I think this all comes together best in the track Colours of Freedom, which in itself is a great name for the kind of trendy DJ night where you’d hear this stuff. I hope I’ve made it clear how trendy I think this is in comparison to my nerdy little self.

Where would you hear this album?

At trendy club nights in South/East London, places like Hackney or Deptford (not Shoreditch, no one actually cool is in Shoreditch now. I should know, I used to live there). Or in equivalently trendy areas of cities like Berlin and Paris. Hell, maybe even here in Seoul in a suitably frightening looking bar. The kinds of places where I would never go to because I don’t own enough black clothing and I’ve never been part of a collective. Or in coffee shops where everything has a ‘stripped back’ aesthetic and none of the cakes are nice.

Would it go on a playlist?

I know like I sound as though this music scares me with how cool it is, but I think this whole album would be the perfect accompaniment to studying/getting ready/dithering in my room and dancing like a divorced woman with too much Chardonnay (very much my dancing vibe). So yeah, I’d happily put it on for those situations. Or maybe for when my students are studying, to give a little bit more flavour to what they hear. Your Love and Colours of Freedom are the funkiest and best for me.

D’ya like it?

Yes, yes I do. The feeling isn’t any stronger than liking (I like a little less ambience and a little more basic pop stomping structures in my music because I’m that person), but if I want to create a trendy, sunny little party on a deck in Dalston in my mind, I’ll swing to these songs. I will also be subtly playing these songs if I ever do host an actual party again, to make me look trendy, like I own vinyl and have a septum piercing.