Yorkshire singer songwriter Tom McKenzie released a new EP, ‘Take Some Time’ last month. I recommend that you do take some time to listen to it. It has a modern indie folk feel to it and Tom marries that to an innate ability to build a pop hook in a ballad kind of way using just vocals, guitar and banjo. It is a great set of songs to just spend time chilling with, maybe in a deck chair with a cold beer or a glass of wine. Tom’s songs are more than just songs, they are stories that are sung. Given when these tunes were recorded I am sure that the COVID-19 lockdown has had at least a small influence on them.
The title track is a wonderfully melancholy love song with stunningly beautiful harmonies provided by Writer’s Rain. I imagined a story around the creation of this song where Sandy Denny might have recorded with Nick Drake. At times I heard a ghost of Clifford T Ward in Tom’s immaculate vocal delivery. “Forever Someday” has an upbeat almost alt.country feel and is one of those songs that just leaves you with a warm happy feeling. “One Way Ticket” seems to be about a relationship that has ended, but where they remain friends, if only all relationships could end that way. I can see the chorus here being a great audience singalong live. There is an invisible anger in “Reason” which appears to be aimed at a composite devil who might represent all that is bad about some people in the world. “How do you reason with the devil? I’m staring him straight in the eye” is a simple yet very powerful line. I think my favourite track on the EP is the closer, “Conkers And Leaves” which is about how great it is to come home, regardless of where and how far you have travelled. If you have not checked out Tom McKenzie‘s music yet I suggest that you do it now. Click here to listen to the EP on Spotify.
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