Performing artist Tom Snowdon has today released his debut album Lonely Tree via Pieater. Experience his new album live, as Snowdon tours across the Australian east coast next month. LISTEN HERE + BUY TIX HERE.

As an artist, he already has an impressive back-catalogue – one album with his first band Lowlakes and two albums with No Mono. In the past, Snowdon’s work has centred on hazy atmospheres, and in expressing emotions via metaphors of elemental forces – water, ice, air and light. His affinity with nature is still present on Lonely Tree, but here we see Snowdon ruminating in a more direct way, offering glimpses into a more personal story.

With one eye on the past, and another on the “what could have been” (what Snowdon calls ‘the lingering alternative’), he yearns for a stabilising hand to keep him present and hopeful in the here and now, and sends his voice reaching out across broad sonic landscapes to find one. Across its nine songs Lonely Tree is an exploration of loss and hope, of things ending and new things beginning. Led by Snowdon’s famously haunting voice, the album is a journey into a dream-like world of the intangible, and one of deeply personal reflection.

After No Mono paused indefinitely following the release of Islands Part II, a somewhat deflated Snowdon moved from inner Naarm / Melbourne to the Coal Coast of NSW. He found new musical collaborators who helped him see music afresh, and most importantly, inspired him again. Working with Meg Washington, Luke Howard, Simon Lam, Alistair Wright, Pip Norman, and Jonathan Boulet, Snowdon began writing about that process of starting over – certainly of loneliness and loss, but also of reimagining and reconnecting, and stepping into the unknown to find new life and new special things.

Included in the collection of songs are the tracks ‘Protection‘ and ‘Empty Start‘, originally released together as a Double A-Side titled Flood at the Heart in 2022. ‘Protection‘ now opens Lonely Tree – a deliberate setting of the scene where earthy, intimate sounds merge with wider, taller atmospherics. ‘True Crime’ is a regretful, hymnal waltz, with swelling strings emphasising a sense of woe. ‘Lose My Body‘ was our first taste of the album – a wonky, baroque-pop number that creates room for hope and opportunity, led by organs that set a church-like scene.

‘Anybody’ is out of the box – propelled along by a breathy beatbox and Meg Washington on duet duties – it’s the most direct song lyrically, written in response to some frank feedback from Washington upon them meeting to write music together: “‘I love your music, but why do you always sing about the forests and the trees and shit? Can we just write a song about people?” Snowdon recalls that moment fondly, as a playful example of the joys of collaborating to create Lonely Tree. Side A is closed by ‘Beta Drug’, a down-beat ballad touching on longing and loneliness.

‘Nora Creina‘ is a spidery, brittle piece, inspired by the town in South Australia where Snowdon visited a few years ago. He experienced the place turning from sunny and pristine to malevolent with an abrupt change of the weather. To Snowdon, Nora Creina began to reflect the balance of things – the good and the bad, the soft and the harsh, both always there or there-abouts – an inescapable truth. ‘Empty Start‘ is about the need for renewal, about leaving things behind in order to make room for new places, new friends, new inspiration. It throbs with an ominous intensity that breaks in the chorus with an ever rising melody.

‘Lonely Tree’ is a sonic  reference to Snowdon’s love of playing in bands, full of layers of live instrumentation and a driving beat. The story in the song stems from a recent time when Snowdon developed a mould condition in his lungs, affecting his ability to breathe – it was  a debilitating experience – he would lie awake for hours at night struggling to take in air, a story captured in the song’s building intensity. Album closer ‘What I Hide’ was originally written for a contemporary dance production, for the inimitable Waangega Blanco as he moved around a dimly lit space, talking about stories from his childhood. It’s sung by a character who’s lived a long life (or many lives), and is close to the end, thinking about the experience – weary and full of secrets, and full of stories.

Off the back of Flood at the Heart, Snowdon performed memorable shows for Sydney Festival, in the sold out Harry Seidler Mushroom, and as part of Phoenix Central Park’s VII’s season. And it’s live where Snowdon’s music really hits hardest. Says Snowdon “live performance is a really important part of sharing my expression. I try and create an immersive and affecting space where I use my voice and elements of contemporary dance to guide people through the songs and into an escape.” Those who saw Snowdon guest for #1 Dads’ surprise hit set at Splendour in the Grass 2015, or who caught the visceral No Mono show for Vivid LIVE 2018 at the Sydney Opera House, can attest to his unique and mesmerising performance, as he uses his body and voice to create an intensely affecting experience.

The photos on the album art were taken on Western Arrernte Country, west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs – Snowdon’s home town. During the emotionally tumultuous time of writing, Snowdon spent periods at home and felt its safety and peace. The landscape of Central Australia has long been inspiration for the artist, and is something he echoes on Lonely Tree – the dramatic beauty, the peace and lingering space, its otherworldliness; and also the extreme nature of it – the harsh climate and textures of rock and sand, the big skies and the extreme isolation that welcomes people looking for an escape.