Tom Shawcroft is a solo sonic adventurer from the East Midlands of Englandshire. ‘Darling’ is his new single on fierce panda
and it’s slinkier than a ferret in a bubble bath with finger-clickin’ beats and gently galloping melodies. Because ‘Darling’ is brazen
unashamed pop music with a capital P at the beginning and another at the end. Verily
this is PoP. Yeah
and indeed
yeah.
He’s got form
too: Tom grew up in the county of Derbyshire and began making music as a teenager. In 2016 he released his debut EP ‘Probably Nothing’ which was predominantly acoustic. Then
influenced heavily by his love for electronic music
Tom further went on to develop his unique style of production
evolving through a string of self-released singles until he arrived at his debut album
‘Definitely Something’ in 2017. Niji Magazine decided that: “Shawcroft encompasses an ensemble of elements such as blues-inspired guitar riffs and drum and bass-inspired rhythm sections to contribute to his unique electronic sound.”
Throw in recent supports with Big Narstie at London Cargo and Young Monarch in Nottingham Rough Trade and add the fact that Tom’s excellent ‘Cool Kids’ track soundtracked the Monologues campaign at BBC’s Biggest Weekend and this is a man obviously on the move. This singular approach to creating music could well stem from the moment when an ailing 13 year-old Tom was rushed to the High Dependency Unit in his local hospital where he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes – the very worst kind. But there was an upside: “Around my diagnosis I remember hearing artists on the radio who did it all themselves – wrote
recorded and produced their own songs from their bedroom. I remember thinking that I could do that. I loved the thought of being in a band
but when I got home I always had a feeling that music was my thing.
“It was how I dealt with that was going on in my life. I started writing happy
cheerful music to bring myself up. Then I realised I could make sad music
and it could be an even more powerful help when I’m feeling low.”
Tom Shawcroft’s ‘Darling’ is the second release as part of the enervating A&R collaboration between fierce panda records and ReverbNation
whereby fully signed-up members of the ReverbNation community can put their songs forward for the chance of a fierce panda release. The first fruits of this labour of alt.pop love was the achingly gorgeous ‘Dive’ single by LA songstress Cuesta Loeb
released back in February ‘18. A third ReverbNation / fierce panda A&R campaign is set to launch any summertime day now. |
