This is Video of the Week from Wales Arts Review. We’ll be showcasing some of the best art in Wales with a new video shared every week. From music to drama and everything in between, videos will not be limited by medium. Today we’re featuring ‘Like a Cigarette’, a new music video from Tom Emlyn.
Tom Emlyn’s signature sound has been building for a while now, you may already have heard it and not realised that it was him. Wistful, evocative and always with a story to tell, Emlyn’s music is already carving out its own space within the Welsh music scene.
Emlyn has a broad range of influences, citing stalwarts such as Bob Dylan as key to his approach of using a song to weave a story. Those influences are clearly evident within ‘Like a Cigarette’, with the song delving into the futility of human interactions in a way that crosses from lyrical into teetering on the side of poetic. There’s a sophistication to the approach, which belies the nonchalant style he conveys in his performances.
Tom Emlyn’s debut solo album, News From Nowhere, a bittersweet love letter to his hometown of Swansea was described by Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales) as a record of “undoubted brilliance, eloquence and energy”. It has been positively received, with airplay and support from Radio Wales, BBC Horizons, R.E.P.E.A.T. fanzine, God Is In The TV, and Joyzine, among others. Tom’s second album ‘I’ve Seen You In Town’ followed hot on the heels of the first – a more mellow, acoustic affair was also well received and has continued to build his profile.
The follow up to ‘Like a Cigarette’, Tom Emlyn’s new single ‘Broken Mirror’ was released on the 7th of April and will be followed by his next album, Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1, which will be released on the 5th of May 2023.
