London-based Australian MF Tomlinson is releasing his debut album with this project, Strange Time, on April 9. Following on from the title track, which he shared last year, he has returned today with an extensive new track and video called “Them Apples”. He says:
“Originally it was because Viljam (Nybacka, co-writer of the song) asked me, what have you been doing? I said ‘I can’t remember, I’ve been so busy’. I thought that was intriguing – the intensity of life rendering each day featureless. Then the pandemic hit and everyday really was the same! I knew then that this was one of those – a song about EVERYTHING all at once, a real rabbit hole.”
That idea of “EVERYTHING all at once” is fully on display in “Them Apples” as it overflows with ideas – both musical and lyrical. A gliding psych-rock track that finds Tomlinson dueting with guest vocalist Connie Chatwin, “Them Apples” has a compelling tension between the beautiful musical surrounding and the paranoid – bordering on horrific – thoughts flowing through the singer’s head, referencing SOS letters found in cheap clothes from Bangladesh and the rising tides swallowing Venice, among others. He at once bemoans the awful things he sees and hears on his social media streams, and yet he’s unable to turn away from the headlines (so seductively voiced by Chatwin), in the end begging “talk to me world, tell me everything.” In “Them Apples”, MF Tomlinson has made a cutting and addictive ode to the way our society can’t unglue themselves from the doomscroll, even if they know it’s poisoning their brains.
The video for “Them Apples” adds a more to this idea of news addiction, as it finds Tomlinson glued to screens of all sorts in a bright and tickling clip directed by Tomas Jef. Watch it below or listen on streaming platforms.
MF Tomlinson’s debut album Strange Time comes out on April 9 (pre-order/save). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
