Nina Simone, Trish Keenan, Psychic TV, The Dandy Warhols, RTX, Spiritualized, Mission Of Burma, Of Montreal.
Sounds Like
"...a lo-fi record, likened by the man himself to what ESP's songs often sound like in their embryonic form. 'I Dream Of Black' contains snippets, slightly unformed songs, which befit the scratchy home recording style of the whole. It's rewarding, not least the incendiary, swirling My Bloody Valentine-esque 'The Runaround', which is possibly the most impressive and innovative thing on offer and makes you wonder how White would get on with the kind of time and money Kevin Shields had to record 'Loveless'. As it is, we can enjoy another album from a prolific artist showing an admirable do-it-yourself ethos." CMU Daily
ha those pics make me think of the wizard of oz like ya shood be one of the characters. anyway someone got you all at the end,sweet good fucking show http://uk. youtube. com/watch?v=ZHhCbjhIXOU
Hey Tom, just got I Dream Of Black last night, I'm really enjoying it! Starry Night #3 is lovely, it sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a midnight stroll, thanks for finding the time to make it.
Really enjoy the new tunes. Is that a flute mellotron buried in the back there on The Devil in a Trojan Horse? Anyway, nice, understated production there.
aversion. com (visit link for full review) White's solo work isn't just a case of a songwriter emptying third-rate cuts rejected by his band onto a vanity album. It's a distinct new direction and one of which he can be proud, because, after all, versatility means nothing if you don't deliver the goods in your various projects. Consider I Dream of Black delivered goods.
Hello Tom, how are you? I just saw that you are heading off to Beautiful Days with the Brakes! Great news, I will be there stewarding with Oxfam, but when I get a free night, I'll say hello with beer, cider and enthusiasm for your sonic pallette...
roomthirteen. com - 'I Dream Of Black' features a delicate mix of glossy vocal harmonies with a dreamy quality like, 'Is It Wrong To Lose Faith In The Person You Used To Love?' and 'Starry Nite #2', which also features a gentle sprinkling of piano and some shimmering sleigh bells.
There are some far out and slightly soporific numbers like title track, 'I Dream Of Black', which is an intriguing piece, sounding rather like the soundtrack to an exploratory mission into space with frissons of crackling percussion breaking through the glassy tones and shuddering string shivers. It feels as though every kind of instruments gets its turn in the limelight on this album with oboes and reed instruments playing a lovely low melody on, 'Starry Nite #3' before its transforms to a chilled, slightly psychdelic tune.
'The Runaround' has an offkilter, gritty charm with metallic guitars forcing their way through vocals with an electronic edge and tight beats, it has the same stormy, electro rampage feel as Muse at their peak. 'This Is Just A Little Interlude…' smashes through the calm of 'I Dream Of Black' with its jaunty, jangly indie featuring tambourines and plenty of guitars. Most of the tunes are instrumentals, so where vocals do kick in on, 'Will The Moon Ever Rise Again?', they're a pleasant surprise and add to the ethereal concept.
'Wartime Love/Solar Collapse' is a laidback, timeless classic with pretty piano keys twinkling away in its first half, while the later section is a creepy, space age collection of synth squeals and doomy chord sequences that feel like they come straight from a sci-fi movie.
'I Dream Of Black' is a mix of intriguing and delicate tunes with a surreal edge that draws the listener in. It's a charming listen for any occasion and the tunes grow in strength on every listen due to their unconventional structures.
London Tour Dates >>> With I Dream Of Black closing with an eight-minute sonic exploration of what a solar implosion would sound like from Earth, it is clear Thomas White doesn't lack ambition in his art. As one half of Brighton's The Electric Soft Parade, sometime member of Brakes and drummer with British Sea Power, White has an eclectic musical background - harnessed to impressive effect on this, his debut solo album. Wilfully self-indulgent and unfashionably expansive, I Dream Of Black is full of layered synths and White's mantra-like vocals, giving a dreamlike quality to proceedings. Lead single The Runaround is an epic soundscape, full of the type of stratospheric guitar playing last heard on Hope Of The State's first album, while other songs such as the Brian Wilson-influenced Starry Nite #2 offer a softer, more muted mood. Destined to become a favourite among a few music aficianados, this ambitious album deserves a wider audience than White's name and small time PR will reach.
Thomas White has to be one of the hardest working guys in music, seemingly always on tour and equally as proficient with the writing, he now has a solo album to go alongside the work he has on with Brakes and Electric Soft Parade, a band who it seemed last year were at the end of the road, but pleasingly are now set to continue.
His album I Dream Of Black released through Drift Records is a continuation of his work in ESP, although obvious differences abound as well. It has that hazy psychedelia that the band really explored so well on their third album last year, while also having a more folk leaning to it.
Fans of his other bands won’t be disappointed by this album, the lack of pop hooks might put off outsiders, but who cares about that, sometimes it’s nice to be a part of a hard working club!
The Independent, London *** Formerly of Electric Soft Parade, this Brightonian forges dream-scapes in a DIY spirit on his solo album, recorded at home on four-track. The result prizes mood over melody, suggesting languid evenings spent alone in his bedroom. But if you crave heady chin-scratchers ("Will The Moon Ever Rise Again?") in psych pastels, he makes sounds to swim in.
"Dark, downbeat but never depressing, there is a mystery and beauty throughout the record and you can't help feeling that every time you play it again you will discover something new"
The first ever fan review (as in fan who doesn't consider themselves a reviewer in any shape or form but had a go anyway) now up at Brothers Electric The horror!
I Dream Of Black is Thomas's debut solo album and showcases his multi-instrument talents. It's a mix of rocky riffs and mellow songs, from crowd-pleasing The Runaround to the smooth music hall sound and nostalgic lyrics of Wartime Love. At just over 37 minutes, it's a short album but best listened to all at once. Rating: 8/10
NME >>> If you found The Electric Soft Parade's 'No Need To Be Downhearted' a little too sunshiney, investigate this curiosity from their vocalist Thomas White. His first solo effort, it's a more off-kilter, subtler prospect. Opening with the rolling, acoustic psych-folk of 'Is It Wrong To Lose Faith In the Person You Used To Love', 'I Dream Of Black' takes a gentle sonic swim through seas of reverb, washing up on shores of song that range from the sci-fi Dandy Warhols shuffle of 'The Runaround' to the Jim Noir-ish 'This Is Just A Little Interlude...'. Download: 'The Runaround'
Plan B >>> The sound of a helpless romantic with a morbid fascination for dark noise sure can make for interesting listening. Being one of The Electric Soft Parade brothers, playing in Brakes (and now Brighton style-manglers Restlesslist) obviously isn't enough to quench Thomas White's hunger for expression, and expression seems the key to I Dream Of Black. 'The Runaround' is music as sinister nightmare. 'Will The Moon Ever Rise Again', meanwhile, mines a doomed sadness that would make nightmares seem welcome. This is some black magic.
atomicduster. com >>> T: Kicking off with the lengthy titled "Is It Wrong To Lose Faith In The Person You Used To Love", it is clear that White is a fan of the Bon Iver or Bonnie "Prince" Billy brand of folk music, but then he startles us with a glimpse of the dark side on "The Runaround", which perhaps recalls days listening to "God's Own Medicine" in his younger days. Although most of this stuff is pretty tender, there is definitely an element of something not being quite right, a rather fractured longing appearing to be at the heart of the matter. Intense and brooding, and not an easy listen, but certainly a rewarding one.
N: Definitely. With those darker shades, from a band wearing sunglasses at midnight, and a knee length black raincoat in the mid-day sun. Not going all out to declare themselves 'goth', but certainly hearing the longing for a darker side. I would have to say that this is an album with a deeper being, from the held back numbers such as "I Dream Of Black", not unsurprisingly, to the shade wearing number "The Runaround", where it's Wayne Hussey and Andrew Eldritch I can almost see in the darker corner of the recording studio.
