TOM LARK ANNOUNCES DEBUT ALBUM, BRAVE STAR ‘RADIO BLASTER’ OUT NOW + LIVE SHOW AT WINE CELLAR ON APRIL 15
31 March 2023
Shannon Fowler has announced his first new musical material as Tom Lark after a seven-year hiatus, along with a live show at Wine Cellar in Tāmaki Makaurau on April 15.
Due out on June 9 2023, Brave Star is the first full-length album from the Ōtautahi-born, Auckland-based artist. It will also be his first release since signing with Winegum Records in early-2023.
Lead single ‘Radio Blaster’ is a sun-soaked jive, and Fowler’s ode to the home stereo.
“We grew up with a small black one with a big red sticker that said 'radio blaster'," the artist recounts. "I often found much solace and comfort in active radio blasting – I used to take great pride in getting the perfect dub from the radio with as little of the DJ as possible. The brass line was inspired by the sting they used to play before the news; there would be this morse code beeping or a big bunch of trumpets to signify something important was happening.”
Shaped in equal parts by the confronting vulnerability of John Lennon, and the troubled braggadocio of spaghetti westerns, the songs on Brave Star are dreamy, well-penned psychedelic folk with a philosophical bent. And you could be forgiven for at times thinking Kurt Vile himself was singing down the line.
Brave Star follows two eponymous Tom Lark EPs, which were released in 2011 and 2015respectively. Those early tunes found a home locally on the Student Radio Network, and abroad on Australian radio station Triple J – where 'Something To Tell You' reached #1 Most Played.
Following this success Fowler chose to set aside the Tom Lark moniker for a period, dipping his toes in the warm waters of pop music and releasing a series of bangers under the Shannon Matthew Vanya pseudonym – as well producing for a number of other artists, including Merk, Randa, and A.C. Freezy.
With Tom Lark's Brave Star Fowler returns to his first love, which turns out to be making sunburnt psychedelic folk fit for sensitive cowboys to meander and muse to.
Brave Star is out through Winegum Records and available to pre-order now via Bandcamp
Tickets to Tom Lark's show at Wine Cellar on April 15 are available now via Under the Radar
CREDIT: LUKAS THIELMANN
PRESS PIC & ARTWORK
ARTIST BIO
Tom Lark is the original musical project of Shannon Fowler, who also releases material under the Shannon Matthew Vanya pseudonym. Where SMV allows for pop indulgence, Tom Lark is an outlet for the artist’s indie sensibilities. Having released two eponymous Tom Lark EPs in 2011 and 2015 respectively, Fowler set the project aside for a period but has returned to his first love, which turns out to be making sunburnt psychedelic folk fit for sensitive cowboys to meander and philosophise to.
Fowler was born in Ōtautahi and relocated to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2012, after a stint recording in Berlin. He works from his Okie Dokie Studio, situated just off Karangahape Road. There he has produced, co-written and engineered tracks with a delightful collection of collaborators, including Merk, Randa, A.C. Freezy, Belladonna, The Fuzzy Robes, Georgia Lines, and the mysterious Rick Shrimp.
Please direct press and programming enquiries to:
Sarah Illingworth
sarah@goodluckmansion.com
+642041387342