Album art by Nick Castonguay.
Emerging from East Vancouver, Thom Speakman shares ‘Flesh Out’, his first EP released as T.Speakman. ‘Flesh Out’ proffers a hypnotic collection of vocal-laden, bass-driven heaters. Spanning across five tracks, Speakman deploys shuffling percussion against a healthy low end, interlaced throughout with disembodied siren calls and guttural, acidic basslines that cut through the dark like a lighthouse beaming from the edge of the sea. Conjuring images of fog over water, dimly lit alleyways covered in graffiti, and walks taken alone in the witching hour, ‘Flesh Out’ is a nighttime journey that delicately twists itself in and out of intoxicating, evocative grooves.
‘Flesh Out’ is presented therein alongside a quote from Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Cry Like A Rainstorm’; a reference whose inclusion expands the melancholic dimension of the EP’s listening experience. “When you cry like a rainstorm and howl like the wind”: ‘Flesh Out’ creaks, bounces, and sparkles with a playful longing.
‘Flesh Out’ is available in full on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Nina Protocol, hitting streaming services — barring Spotify — on January 30th. An release event is also scheduled for January 31st at The Deli in Vancouver B.C. featuring support from Iha, Nikole, and a.kosowan — tickets available via RA.
We’ve asked Thom to share a bit about his work and are pleased to share the interview below.
‘Flesh Out’ is your first EP released as T.Speakman. Would you be open to sharing what influenced your decision to adopt a new alias, and what direction you see T. Speakman heading?
I had been feeling like I grew out of the ideas that were in play with my old alias, and that it was time to turn a new leaf. I also feel that I found, or got much closer to my own voice in recent years. So using a variation on my own name felt right. Without saying too much, I want to strike a balance between beauty and discordance, and see what I find there.
You recently moved back to your hometown of Vancouver after over a decade spent in Montreal. Was the experience of moving such a large distance, changing scenery, and returning to somewhere familiar a major influence on you while writing ‘Flesh Out’?
I’m not sure how much of an influence the move was on this EP. The tracks were written in Montreal, and then finalized here in Vancouver. So the feelings from which they flow have long passed. I tend to work slowly. I think it's more that moving home was reflective of the changes in my life, and my relationship to music making that had started 5-6 years ago. The biggest change I’ve noticed after moving home, as far as music goes, is the growing instinct to want to throw shows and contribute to the scene beyond being an artist/dj. Montreal has an incredible music scene and I do feel that, simply put, Montreal showed me how it's done.
You’ve previously cited artists like Burial and Joy Orbison as sources of creative inspiration. ‘Flesh Out’ does seem to inhabit a similarly yearning, dark, nearly gentle sonic atmosphere, imbued with a unique playfulness and bounce. Are there other sources of inspiration that you feel directly play into your musical output?
Brazilian Baile Funk, techno and the grit of East Vancouver are big sources of inspiration. I lived in Rio de Janeiro with a cousin for four months after high school. My formative sound system experiences were at baile funks around Rio. Streets full of stacks of scantily connected speakers, drinking redbull-whiskey-speed-coconut flavoured ice cocktails, packed in like sardines, baile funk blasting. That was life altering. A friend once told me ‘house is about celebrating the moment, techno is about imagining the future’. The idea of imagining the future through sound hit me really hard. I grew up in East Vancouver, a working class neighborhood, and went to lots of shows in the Downtown Eastside to see bands like Nu Sensae, White Lung, Twin Crystals, etc. The DTES is stricken with problems of extreme poverty, addiction and mental health. The look and feel of where I grew up and where I spent lots of my youth imbued me with a fascination towards both the underground and the underbelly of the city.
Your work often explores multiple versions of a track; as shown in ‘Flesh Out’ with Eros’ Love and Lust mixes, and Easy Does It’s Hard anEasy. I’m curious about your writing process and what goes into deciding which tracks to rework.
It's pretty simple, once I get going, I have a hard time stopping.
‘Flesh Out’ showcases collaborations with vocalists Janette King and Odile Myrtil. Working with live contributions as opposed to sampled material adds a layer of intimacy to the tracks, and I’d love to hear about the process of working with singers and how it influenced your writing.
The voice is so immediate and primary. I love Janette and Odile’s voices, and they are also friends. So there is an immediacy on that level as well. It just made sense to reach out to them and ask to collaborate. Nothing wrong with sampling but I felt I wanted to work with them, and that our friendship would influence the collaboration, which in an immaterial way, would colour the sound. Both how they sang and what I did with their voices on my end.
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