For the last few months, we have been intently following the unveiling of Thomas Bernard Howard‘s album, Rose – an intentional, seven track opus that is both cohesive and interconnected.
The episodic record opens with the title track – a delicate and cinematic experience with a meditative nature. Thomas Bernard Howard‘s atmospheric vocal is both enchanting and haunting. TH manner in which the star fuses his voice with a refined, immersive sound design, feels intimately aligned.
The experience is escapist and transcendental, which leads us onto Flame, once again opening with an ethereal synthscape. We experience a moodier and more subversive timbre from the artist.
Comparing the two singles, Thomas admits, “Flame is a wild departure from my debut single and I can’t wait to shock my audiences. However, I do not shock people just to shock them. I have only truth to tell.”
We appreciate the dimensionality and note the cohesion. Up next is Diamond, which draws us back to the elegance of the debut. Sufjan Stevens fans will no doubt be able to connect with Thomas’s sonic architecture. We previously said established that the emotive delivery is captivating, and the serene charisma with which Thomas delivers his prose is unique and sensual.
The astral nuances of this composition have us truly in awe, inviting us to connect with ourselves, the artist and the cosmos. Blood is next and holds a familiar energy to Flame with a darker mood with more experimental production.
We lose ourselves in the lower register of the star’s vocal timbre, and our attention is retained with the more subversive elements in his performance. The deep bass throat singing is simply fantastic, reminiscent of monks and beat boxers, but brought to life in Thomas’s own unique way.
Lucy is a majestic ode to the talented creator’s late familiar. Speaking on the intention of the song, Thomas tells us, “Lucy is an eternal lullably for my late loved one that loops one stanza over and over. It is written and produced to feel like it could occupy the space that exists between being awake and falling asleep – where she was when I last held her.” He adds, “Lucy reminds us of the things that, unlike material possessions, have infinite value.”
This leads us to the soothing track, Star, which opens with a vinyl texture and we learn from the artist that Star uses the Red Giant phase of star death as a metaphor for his “giant red hair:”.
Thomas Bernard Howard continues, “With this I ask the universe questions about my mortality, about my hopes and dreams, and about whether this light I see in the sky is true, or is that of long-dead stars.”
Finally, we experience the optimistic outro, Guts – the culmination and title track of the record bringing us full circle compositionally, and inviting us to take “longing, sadness, anger and pain” and release it.
Thomas elaborates, “It is a spiritual cousin of Rose, the first single of the story, in the sense that Rose was about love and the physical affection that follows. Guts focuses on the latter and uses it as a pathway to liberation.”
We appreciate the brightness and confidence in Thomas Bernard Howard‘s delivery for the finale, and philosophical energy exhibited here as well as throughout the overarching experience of the album, which is perfect for a contemplative moment with oneself. We cannot wait to hear what else is to come from the talented creator and we are grateful that he made the conscious decision to create this body of work and debut his authenticity and spiritual depth.