I have lived with these nine songs for the past week in the car. Deeply epic, I think would be the summary. Tom has a deep voice. He writes deeply reflective songs which with the range of the vocals, range from gentle to epic.
The nearest comparison would be fellow Londoner Dan Michelson, whose baritone is even deeper by the way! The songs on Tom's debut album could not be described as jolly. They are songs of life and death, and in many cases, songs that could be transported to a West End stage production as easily as a concert hall.
Tom is the son of Richard Hickox CBE, a renowned conductor and Grammy Award winner and his mother was an orchestral timpanist, this rich musical heritage is embedded on this weighty record.
All songs on the album were written by Tom Hickox with co-production from Colin Elliot at Yellow Arch Studios in Sheffield. The backing band on all tracks was 'borrowed' from Richard Hawley whilst Richard himself plays slide guitar on 'Out of the Warzone'.
The song are stories, mainly dark stories but ones that you can listen to with ease quite comfortably for any amount of time. I recently saw Tom play live on this home turf at the Garage in Islington. Live, as on record Tom's voice is equally as powerful, with the songs perhaps even more dramatic.
Let's hope the next record is not too far behind this Fierce Panda Records release, Tom hopefully has a lot more to offer.
Pete
9/11
Songs
The Angel of the North
The Pretty Pride of Russia
Out of the Warzone
Your Baby Was Asleep
White Roses Red
Let Me Be Your Lover
A Normal Boy
The Lisbon Maru
Good Night
'War, Peace & Diplomacy' is released via Fierce Panda records on 10th March 2014 and is available to pre-order here: