It’s not that often when a song and accompanying video can be simultaniously described as cool, thought provoking and sweet, but such is the talent of Tom A Smith and his latest (October 2023) release Fading Away.

https://spotify.link/gGgN5YJTSDb

The song itself feels like a rock classic, and I mean that in the fresh “I want to hear that again and again” spirit, rather than in that tired “kill me now” way. If Fading Away is not quite a hit now (and who knows), it will be so in time.

The opening bars kind of have a Beatles feel, but it soon progresses into a contemporary banger, while Tom’s distinctive urgent vocal delivery wraps into your brain and implores you to pause a moment and listen.

I’m not alone in banging the drum for Tom A Smith and tipping him for the stratosphere, but tracks like this demonstrate why so many (and those far more in the know than I) are excited for the future of this 19 year old Sunderland lad.

So the song and indeed the video evokes the spirit (but not the sound) of David Bowie Space Oddity, particularly with its theme and overlaid NASA style countdown. The song offers a vision of someone lost in space, or in emotion, groping and hoping to find his way out of the predicament. It’s major, Tom.

The video shows a young Tom A as a spaceman on an alien land (or it might just conceivable be a bit of North East coastline) doing serious but childlike things dressed as a spaceman.

The thought of this child being lost, lonely and scared brings a tear even to my childless eyes, particularly when it plays in the immediate backdrop of the horrors of Gaza and Israel, where these emotions and vulnerable orphans are all too real.

Tom has told me in the past that if a song doesnt flow and come together for him quickly he will dismiss it, and Fading Away was conceived and completed in around 5 hours. The song was produced by musician and producer Hugo White (Maccabees, 86TV’s) and it has a perfect feel.

Too many big songs have overfussy production, like a muddy layer of varnish on a masterpiece (waves at another Tom, who to my ear feels lost in a committee of co-writers and producers), but here with this Tom, it’s well constructed and not overlayered to an inch of its life. To be fair Tom’s talent is so fresh and pure and needs no producing trickery. Long may it continue.

Tom A Smith has been on a gigging apprenticeship with his band, performing support or on headline gigs at every opportunity.

God knows how many grotty service station and garage loos this lad and his band have been in over the past few years, but that toiletry purgatory means they are live tight for Tom’s first headline tour of the UK.

There’s still a few tickets about, and it’s time to climb aboard so you can roll your eyes in a few years time, and say ‘well yeah, I saw him a while back for about a tenner and could almost touch his guitar then”. Tom’s socials have the skinny (do people still really say that? I’m hoping my old skool language is charming) on tour dates.

* words by Tiggerligger

* photos from Tom A Smith’s socials