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Track Premiere

Seattle’s baroque pop group Tomten shares new single “Mind How You Go”

By March 12, 2023No Comments

STREAM: “Mind How You Go” –
YouTube / Spotify / Bandcamp / Soundcloud

“There are two songs that directly influenced this one, there is a fantastic “lost album” Dion made in 1965 that has his version of Tom Paxton’s “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” I was obsessed with Dion’s version (still am!) and wanted to try and capture a similar feel, I think my song ended up straying far from it but probably for the best. I also think there is a little bit of “Something Better Beginning” by The Kinks in that D9 ending chord but again hopefully straying a bit. I’d gotten on old Jenco three octave table top Celeste and was very excited to add it to that bell solo in the middle of the song. Those things are pesky to mic. Lyric-wise, I just wanted to write a nice pretty song, hope you like it!” -Brian Noyes / Tomten

For Fans of: Father John Misty, Wilco, Paul Westerberg, The Lemonheads, The Zombies

***
Tomten are a baroque pop quartet based out of Seattle, Washington. Brian Noyes (vocals, keys, guitar) and Lena Simon (bass, vocals) (Kairos Creature Club, formerly of La Luz) met in 2008 and began demoing each other’s songs at Cornish College of The Arts.

Tomten started playing shows and rearranging their sound and lineup by 2010, after Gregg Belisle-Chi (guitar) and Jake Brady (drums) joined the band. Tomten‘s debut, Wednesday’s Children arrived in Summer of 2012 shortly before Belisle-Chi left the band. Tomten recorded their sophomore record The Farewell Party (2014) with Jason Quever of Papercuts in San Francisco and Sacramento, CA. Dillon Sturtevant (bass) joined the band as Lena departed.

The Unknown recording studio in Anacortes, WA started by Nicholas Wilbur and Phil Elverum (Mt. Eerie) has become the go to spot for the band’s more recent recordings – the lush piano driven Cremation Songs (2017), and Synth Pop informed Viva Draconia (2018). Tomten‘s newest album Artichoke (out April 28) is a collaborative foray into psych folk, power-pop, and glam country, a balance between songs by Noyes, Sturtevant, and two co-written with Brady. Artichoke is a warm pastoral daydream, with inspirations drawn from the Madcap folk rock of the Incredible String Band, to the syrup soul of The Delfonics, the country tinge of Happy End or Gene Clark, with the gentle guitar picking of John Martyn or Bridget St. John.

Tomten is:

Brian Noyes: Vocals, Keys, Guitars, Bass
Dillon Sturtevant: Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Jake Brady: Guitars, Bass, Drums
Bryan Appleby: Drums, Vocals

Press photos by Nicholas Wilbur

TOUR DATES

4/27 Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s

Tomten
Artichoke
(Plume)
Street Date: April 28, 2023

Track List:

1. Grapefruit Sea
2. Caterpillar Hill
3. Mind How You Go
4. Ursula
5. Poppies On The Mountainside
6. Dry Creek
7. Thistle
8. Never Dream It Untrue
9. Lizard In The Grass
10. Song To The Druid
11. Dorothy’s Sleeping
12. Time of Uncertainty

TOMTEN LINKS:

Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp