Project Description
TOM GREGORY
‘HEAVEN IN A WORLD SO COLD’
(Album Review)
30th September 2020
Reviewer – Dan Trinh
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It is already more than half a century ago when The Beatles, an English rock band that had been playing around Hamburg for several years before hitting the U.S. music industry as a major phenomenon, the “Beatlemania”, marking the first British Invasion in the history of American pop culture. The previous decades as well saw waves of new British pop acts, namely Adele and Ed Sheeran, who came dominating every Billboard chart and selling millions of records worldwide. But there’s hardly anyone whose career has been progressing in the same fashion of the legends and still wishfully aiming high, like Tom Gregory. After years of traveling between the U.K. and Germany, the 25-year-old singer from Blackpool, England, is ready to deliver his first LP, “Heaven in A World So Cold”, a surprisingly philosophical title for an album, which he references from the very first line of the opening track, “Small Steps”.
Signed to Kontor Records, a German label based in Hamburg, Gregory made his first impression with “Run to You”, which peaked at number 26 in the country’s airplay charts in 2018. Ever since, he had been trying to remain relevant by continuously teasing songs from the album until it finally came out. “Heaven in A World So Cold”, with its intriguing lyrical sense, offers polished earworm pop songs that showcases Gregory’s husky voice, the x-factor that brings the record closer to the audience’s heart.
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As quite a fresh face to the music scene, the 25-year-old singer wants to introduce his music by suggesting that people take it slow from his first track. “Small Steps”, released in 2019 as the fourth promotional single and hitting number 3 in the charts, is however, an exciting introduction to the whole LP. From the very beginning, as Gregory projects his vulnerable voice over a strumming guitar, singing ”I’ve found heaven in a world so cold”, it already feels like he has taken your hand even before sending out an indeclinable sweet invitation. But don’t be too easy-going because he’s about to turn you away very soon and blame you back right where the second song starts. Powered by thick drum beats, fat guitar bass and piano vamps, “Rather Be You” is a track that could get your feet tapping on the floor while listening to the singer belt out his jealousy and disappointment after a breakup.
When artists cite their musical influences, like how Taylor Swift implies that she has a lot of James Taylor records in “Begin Again”, the aesthetics they use to create music are expected to be similarly influenced; or they display such huge love for the music they listened to as a child. Gregory is also very transparent with that, with how much he likes guitar music by James Taylor and even dreamy jazz by George Benson. There’s no doubt that the young singer is a guitar lover as “Fingertips”, though simply written, is able to illuminate that pure joy of a little boy when he was given the instrument.
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“Let It Be History” is an energetic groovy track that attempts to create those “acoustic dubstep” drops with heavy guitar bass and weighing kick, where Gregory makes it sound so easy to forget about the past but still manages to stay cool. Similarly, production wise, “Grow Up” is a fun track that resembles Imagine Dragon’s “Thunder” but got boosted by the boom bass and One Direction-like background harmonies, where the singer is unafraid to show his big kid ego, grumpily telling the world that he is not ready to adult yet.
Most of the tracks on the album bear the same energy created by the production framework: heavy kicks, snares and claps, groovy fat basslines and constant piano vamps. When it might get a little overwhelming at some point during the record due to such bop-stimulating production, there’s really a desire for some low key and honest songs and Gregory knows that. That’s where “What Love Is” fits in. However, the song could have achieved a better outcome if it had not been greedy for the bassy strum instead of the clear streaming sound of fingerstyle. “By Your Side” is the second quieter track from the album that somewhat helps balance the rigorous drive of other tracks. The song features the singer crooning about his childhood town where he met his first love, over the finger picked tunes and acoustic slap of the guitar.
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Tom also has delivered a couple of heartfelt love songs on the album to remind you of how it feels like to be in love. “Run to You” sounds simple but very delicate and intimate. “Far Away” is a cheesy but honest promise for a fragile long-distance relationship in which you could feel him putting in effort to stay connected with his partner.
It’s true the thing that shines most throughout the record is Gregory’s soulful tenor voice, one that becomes husky and sharpened when moving to the upper register in “Pictures” or crystallises in “Sink or Swim”. There’s a surge of solid masculinity and versatility in his vocals that helps ripen his songwriting and fits it well into those EDM trap beats of “Pictures”. In “Sink or Swim”, he optimises the potential of his voice to pierce through the song, which is the last but also the best track from the album that hears Tom belting his heart out, cursing the person who had left him in such tremendous pain.
Broken-hearted English boys have a soul in their voice. From Sam Smith to James Arthur or John Newman, those soulful voices are what melt people’s heart. Tom could fall somewhere along the line but closer to the other end where Ed Sheeran with his commercial busking artistry stands. That being said, if you’re looking for something more pop than John Newman but still has a little more soul than Ed Sheeran, Tom Gregory is that boy! “Heaven in A World So Cold” contains a number of instant hits that help catapult the singer to wider recognition, hopefully in the UK.
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‘HEAVEN IN A WORLD SO COLD’
Tracklist:
Buy/stream: HERE
1. Small Steps
2. Rather Be You
3. Fingertips
4. Let It Be History
5. What Love Is
6. Grow Up
7. Run To You
8. Losing Sleep
9. Pictures
10. Far Away
11. By Your Side
12. Sink Or Swim
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UK singer-songwriter
TOM GREGORY
delivers stunning debut album
‘HEAVEN IN A WORLD SO COLD’
BUY/STREAM: TOM GREGORY – HEAVEN IN A WORLD SO COLD (LP)
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