Scottish singer-songwriter Tommy Ashby recently released his new EP ‘Golden Arrow’.
The four-track release’s lead single ‘Apollo’ caught our attention thanks to its musical encapsulation of the feelings surrounding a new love. The spark, the air of excitement, the hope and passion that flows through the journey of getting to know each other.
Recently unveiling the music video for the single, we caught up with Tommy to find out more about the track that had us hooked.
We’ll let Tommy introduce this one: “This was pretty tough! I try not to think too much about other songs when I’m writing otherwise you can get too pulled into their world. Also, comparisons with other people’s songs can be humbling and a little intimidating but here goes anyhow…”
Francis and the Lights – May I Have This Dance
This is a lesson in how to make a song joyful without sounding totally cheesy. It’s not a fast tune but it makes you wanna bop your head or have a dance, which is definitely what we were going for with ‘Apollo’. Production-wise there are a lot of similarities; vocal sounds and pads come in throughout, which I would do by going into the booth and making various weird noises and bleeps with my voice and building them up. My mum heard this song and said that he sounds just like Peter Gabriel, which I think is another good thing!
Frightened Rabbit – The Twist
It’s pretty hard to be a singer-songwriter from Scotland and not be influenced by this band. I realise my song couldn’t sound less like Frightened Rabbit, but there are definitely some subtle influences. Similarly to ‘Apollo’, the verses in ‘The Twist’ describe the minutiae of a night out. Scott Hutchison does it so brilliantly, his imagery is so compelling, you feel that you are there. It’s also quintessentially Scottish:
”Lift your dress enough to show me those shins
Let your hair stick to your forehead”
Who else could write lyrics like this?! I was so sad to hear the news about Scott Hutchison last year. I was on tour in Ireland and I just went for a long walk along the beach listening to their music. His music gives so much hope to the people who feel they just don’t fit in and it has helped me out many times.
Paul Simon – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
The way the lyrics in the verse flow into each other is so beautiful. He is bold with the production, a brilliant drum groove, some chords and Paul Simon just spouting beautiful poetic lyrics. To be honest, apart from the floaty verses this song, ‘Apollo’ is quite different, but Paul Simon is such a huge influence I just had to include something.
Bon Iver – Perth
‘Perth’ follows a similar form to ‘Apollo’. It has verses and choruses that flow into one another and an epic Middle-8 where the song suddenly opens out. It feels like someone is opening the door on a much bigger scene. It’s one of those points where everything merges and you get tingles in the hairs on your neck. This is the point where you turn up the volume and mime an outrageous drum solo. Justin Vernon is great at overlapping various ideas and layering them up. They sound like they come at you from all directions and gives the impression of a stream of consciousness. This is definitely what I was going for in the Middle-8 of ‘Apollo’. Someone whose senses are heightened, in an extreme state of excitement.
James Blake – Retrograde
I’ve watched video after video of James Blake playing, he’s one of those people out of whom beautiful music just seems to flow. There is no effort involved. I think the influence on ‘Apollo ‘here is the focus and intimacy he is able to bring the vocals on quite an expansive track. Also, you can hear how ‘Retrograde’ could be stripped right back to just piano and vocal; I hope that also comes through in ‘Apollo’ too, just the simplicity of a voice and guitar.
You can watch the music video for Tommy Ashby’s ‘Apollo’ below:
Catch Tommy Ashby live in Scotland next month:
JULY
7th GLASGOW, (Support Hilang Child) Hug and Pint
8th INVERNESS, Under Canvas at Eden Court
9th EDINBURGH, Sneaky Pete’s
12th INNERLEITHEN (Support Big Country)