From a midnight messiah who uploaded songs at 3am on Soundcloud in anonymity, Tom Misch returns to the bedroom folk roots that made him fall in love with music in the first place. A gentle, introspective and cohesive listen.
Tom Misch only ever wanted to be a musician. The youngest of three siblings, he watched his small Southeast London home move slowly. His escape and resolve were in these tunes he made, inspired by J Dilla and Robert Glasper, along with Roy Hargrove, Erykah Badu and the legend Herbie Hancock. Tricks that made him be able to sit at home in his room, press the record button and enjoy just looping licks and having a good time. After the breakout years, he realised he had become bigger than he ever intended to, in his words. He returns to the reasons he made music with Full Circle.
With someone who made a breakthrough through a radio show, Tom Misch definitely had a music life that was at 2x the speed. The Journey became a fan favourite; Beat Tape 2 came and proved that Misch was a real music fan. There were collaborations that made the whole of UK come together to honour the scene, including Loyle Carner, Jordan Rakei and Carmody. So when the Reverie came in after this, people were hearing some of the most sophisticated melodies from this artist – beyond loops and cross-pollinating genres. Now what he’d do had to blow people’s minds.
Steps, back home
When he sits to write on his piano and guitar for Full Circle, there is a strange silence he has chosen, I’m sure. Back at his childhood home, he goes back to his room and starts from progressions, rather than samples he’d want to play around with. Like the Laurel Canyon group of musicians who were inspired by the intangibles that surrounded them, Tom Misch now writes like Joni Mitchell. His voice has a slight crackle from the Neumann U47 microphone, the same you would have heard from Young, Sinatra and the legendary Beatles. It’s all the more gentle; he sings like the personified pages of a journal. Flowers in Bloom opens up this poetic journey, like the first stare outside his window at his little garden that is overlooked from his room. It’s quite the picture you can imagine.
The hum of acoustic, electric
Compared to older albums that had riffs you’d want to sit and try to loop or learn, Tom Misch encourages you to pick up your guitar. I’m not much of a player, but the progressions had at least a base that you’d try to find the other chords with. Stripped of strong percussions, all these songs have that Zeppelin III feel. Sitting out in nature, just jamming with friends or by yourself. The popular Red Moon came in next, and I went to pick up my electric just to learn that bu-bu-bu-bu-buahh riff.
Using Mayer’s signature Fender guitar, which I am presuming as his primary, he writes those solos and licks you can sing along with in the track. This is something that has always made Misch stand out, a voicing that doesn’t make you feel aloof. Sure, there is a wash of jazz over all of his melodies, and you’re allowed to sit with him and learn it.
Like other musicians who have ‘gone international’, he wrote these songs across the globe. London, Cornwall, Portugal, and Nashville were on the map, and Tom Misch found himself slowly losing himself as he travelled. The mental exhaustion was catching up, and going acoustic is a moment of solitude every singer-songwriter likes to return to. That’s what I thought when I heard Slow Tonight, him having a séance with time, asking for a break within this breakneck speed he was living in. Not only his own shows, but also the collaborative nature of Misch’s musical journey made him want to show up in so many different artists’ shows, the way music should be enjoyed.
Acknowledging relationships
So when he plays Sisters With Me, he’s singing for his sister – the brilliant saxophonist and composer Laura Misch. Emotional yet showing Misch as his original, vulnerable self is a designed core for this album. Full Circle makes contact with people who have borne the brunt of time while Misch was away. Old Man will definitely bring a tear to your eyes, showing the aspect of ageing looking at your father. From what he’s learnt observing to what has been taught, this is a time capsule. This is why this stripped-back album is so honest in its theme; it’s a kid who started songwriting through the internet now experiencing the realities of life through this music.
Nurturing his emotions and mental health comes Running Away. From the tones to the breeze of the ambience, it is parallel to this chase of fame and expectation that seems to be following Misch. Exploring a personal moment with complete honesty, he makes it into a song that everyone might relate to, to some degree. Everything that shows stability and a foundation of a strong relationship seems to be instilling fear in him. The frequency of these bonds changing seems to be very personal – one hand shows a deep love for his parents and siblings while still wanting to stay away from intimacy with another person. However, Goldie comes in next and leaves that space open-ended. He is open to change, and music is helping him think and consider through these spaces in his mind.
The man he (might) become
An introspective phase comes in through Echo From The Flames to Sultan of Silence. While looking at the stars (in the sky this time) and singing, Tom Misch engages in conversations with the person he needs to talk to the most. Himself. Till Days of Us, these are candid moments, things you think about as a child and then grow up too quickly to reconsider. Are you still afraid of snakes? Does the dark make you feel a certain way?
Kaidi Akinnibi walks into this album with the only collaboration when the tape is already rolling. What you hear is musicians actually jamming out with no fixed output in mind. It’s like that famous Losing My Way with FKJ he recorded, a smile plastered across his face as the talented multi-instrumentalist FKJ goes in circles around him, playing several instruments. I listened to this album and played some of its songs due to their simplicity and sat down to write a song for my fiancé with what inspired me. Now, I find myself writing about this album, pleasantly surprised at how it made me think and, most importantly, feel. Almost like I went full circle:
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