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Press for 'I Dream Of Black'....
Q Magazine
Thomas White is a busy man. Besides leading Brighton-based "prog-pop" outfit The Electric Soft Parade with brother Alex, he also runs a side project, Brakes. On top of all that, he's completed his first solo album, I Dream Of Black, which recalls the psychedelic rock splendour of Spiritualized at their peak. 4/5
Artrocker Magazine
Thomas White has been known for several achievements: initially for gaining chart success before passing his school exams in The Electric Soft Parade, and then for tearing country and punk music a new asshole in the anti-trend super-group Brakes. Now he’s making it as a solo artist (as well as drumming for Brighton’s new bright hopes, the Shellac-meets-Aphex Twin outfit, Restlesslist).
So why a solo album with so much going on in bands? Well, this is succinct; it’s almost like the expression of a person’s various moods. Download single ‘The Runaround’, is some kind of nightmare, like a Flaming Lips meets Throbbing Gristle it’s dark, propulsive and addictive, with endless twists and turns. ‘Starry Nite 2’ is surely an expression of some kind of love and ‘Starry Nite 3’ is a gorgeous electro-orchestral arrangement that swells and recedes, showing White is no stranger to melancholy and electro eccentricity.
‘This Is Just A Little Interlude’ is exactly that – boogie-woogie rock ‘n’ roll that isn’t offensive enough to summon up old Jools, and is in fact discreet enough so as not to offend. It’s ‘Will The Moon Ever Rise Again?’ that really steals the show – a song as worthy as any crooner or blue-eyed soul boy. It’s simply heartbreaking in lyrical content and emotional arrangement. Thank heavens Thomas White is a workaholic, as this solo album is one of the most remarkable albums of the year, and all recorded in a basement to boot.
culturedeluxe.com
White dreams of black? Ok! Virtually part of the indie establishment now, Thomas White should be known to many as guitarist in Electric Soft Parade and Brakes and, having reverted to his Sunday name, is now a solo artist in his own right.
'I Dream of Black' is chameleonic from start to finish. 'Starry Nite 2' recalls psychedelic McCartney, 'Will The Moon Ever Rise Again' is My Bloody Valentine minus the wall of noise, and the title track is one of many instrumentals employing atmospheric string swirls colliding malevolently with crisp, slithering analogue noise. Conveniently at the midpoint, 'This is Just a Little Interlude' is exactly that, a jolly, shuffling surf guitar workout which should just give you enough time to secure one of those tiny ice cream pots from a hostess.
Largely experimental, slighly mental, 'I Dream of Black' may very well be the best thing Thomas White has ever produced, just what brother Alex thinks of that is another matter! 8/10
sweepingthenation.blogspot.comp
...factor in his drumming for Restlesslist and his sideline/stand-in work with a phalanx of other bands and he seems to be in possession of some sort of magic quality music elixir, one that's capable of stretching out genre boundaries while never losing sight of the qualities of a good tune. That's as much the case with his debut solo album, I Dream Of Black, another high quality product from the fast becoming completely reliable Drift label. Recorded by himself on a four-track it plays better than many a patchwork release produced in far less reduced circumstances, delving further into the psychedelic elements ESP often hint at - his Myspace suggests Broadcast as a major influence, which we can very much see - levered with the kind of Tim Buckleyesque songwriting he's exhibited playing acoustically. Chalk another one up in his credit column.
subba-cultcha.com
'I Dream Of Black’ represents a singularly visioned home-crafted, personal affair. Something essentially oxymoronic is present throughout the songs of Thomas White, for while at once the songs can appear uplifting or playful, concurrently there is always something intangibly sinister or unsettling, afoot in the distance. In this sense the mood as opposed to the actual sound of the record, shares similarities with artists such as Portishead or even Angelo Badalamenti, in that effect of lightness contrasted with something somewhat murkier.
However that’s not to say the record isn’t a catchy or enjoyable affair, more that it’s at times unsure character, helps to create a more intriguing template. Psychedelica and that decade of the 1960’s stamps a strong presence on proceedings throughout, indicative in the treated drone vocals and layered, inventive guitars.
Soundtracks and the whole genre of film music also stamps an influence over instrumentals such as ‘Starry Night 3’ and the title track. ‘Will The Moon Ever Rise Again’ meanwhile opens with a Jeff Buckley snake-like guitar pattern reminiscence of ‘Dream Brother’ before drum machines and spooky keyboard noises enter to mutate and take the track somewhere else entirely.
As previously mentioned overall proceedings are versatile, essentially original and engaging. Moreover ’I Dream Of Black’ is a somewhat unusual album, in that it is as much of itself while simultaneous sounding like some distant album soundtracking a lost, forgotten 60’s film.
In essence then, ‘I Dream Of Black’ represents a record where for once, the oft used ‘solo album’ terminology is wholly appropriate. 8/10
isthismusic.com
Thomas White ventures out on his own for the first time whilst on a very rare break from ESP and Brakes commitments and the results are, in a word, brilliant. If you’re wondering what the point of this record is being that White pens most of the ESP songs and has more than a hand in the Brakes material then I suggest you just get a copy, sit back and soak it up.
Turns out White is a wee psychedelic kid at heart, over the course of these ten fuzzy, lo-fi-reaching-for-the-sky numbers, White displays song writing maturity way beyond his years and some delightful chord changes to boot. ‘The Runaround’ is rightfully chosen as the lead single, it’s undeniably ripped straight from ‘Come Down’ era Dandy Warhols but who cares when it’s this damn good, a slacker-rock anthem and easily the most accessible track on here. The not so snappily titled, ‘Is It Wrong to Lose Faith in the Person You Used to Love?’ and ‘The Silence Stops Tonight’ are more intimate affairs but showcase Whites beautiful voice and twisting melodies wonderfully, the latter breaking into an epic wig-out.
Elsewhere the quirky instrumental aptly named, ‘This Is Just A Little Interlude’ is a sheer delight, in a similar vein to ‘Coffee in the Pot’ by Supergrass you’re guaranteed to have the surf-guitar line in your head for days, it’s so infectious I ended up learning the guitar line myself, anything to impress a lady. The songs weave in and out charmingly with ambient-electro passages and some avant-garde numbers, not my usual cup of tea at all but they work a treat especially on ‘Starry Nite 3’ which plays like some sort of early Gershwin recording before breaking into spits and spats of drum machines and electro pulses.
Apparently this was all recorded on a Tascam 4-track although I’m pretty dubious of that claim, it’s certainly a striking slab of old-school lo-fi indie, if you like early Domino or Drag City stuff then you’ll lap this up.
sonicdice.com - Amersham Arms Show
Thomas White gingerly steps out onto the stage with an essential can of Red Stripe and a projector screen, set up behind him, flashing through a variety of LSD-influenced colours and landscapes. This strikes me as an interesting idea. Given the small scale of the show one might think that it was a bit pretentious to demand a screen set up but once White eventually gets his set started, after a laptop malfunction, the combination of his calm stage presence, beautifully effortless voice and swirly visuals cause the audience to slowly become hypnotised, falling under his spell. And when he isn’t singing, with vocal traits similar to that of Jeff Buckley, he’s talking to the audience as if he was one of the locals, joking about what to do next, and laughing at an interesting start to a Nina Simone cover informing us that he’s got “ideas above my octave station!”. Despite the technical difficulties, White breezes through the set with effortless professionalism, and really puts a smile on everyone’s face.
crackerjack.co.uk - Bristol Louisiana Show
Tom White's songwriting credentials are certainly not in doubt - the precocious Brightonian wasn't even old enough to vote when he and his brother Alex released their excellent first album as Electric Soft Parade.
He's also a reliable gun-for-hire (guitarist for Brakes, drummer for Restlesslist) but this co-headlining tour is his first outing as a solo performer.
The first half of his set consisted of some fairly straightforward acoustic tracks, but Tom had added a visual element with a series of grainy film clips that were projected over him and the entire stage - intriguing but not so distracting that it took away from the songs and his gorgeous voice. He added some whistling in too, not something you hear a lot of in modern pop music.
Then Tom switched from guitar to keyboard and laptop, and things took a very different turn. Long, experimental, and mainly lyric-less tracks like I Dream Of Black were hypnotic, with Tom holding notes like a choirboy along with synth-generated strings.
He finished with a version of the Irving Berlin song You Can Have Him that was nothing less than startling. 7/10
