MF Tomlinson

(24 March) Today MF Tomlinson returns to announce new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream', out 11th July on PRAH Recordings.

'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is MF Tomlinson's third studio album following the critically acclaimed 2021 debut 'Strange Time' and 2023's 'We Are Still Wild Horses', which drew universal praise from Uncut, Mojo, The Times, The Line of Best Fit, and many more.

An opus on human experience, new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is an urgent and vivid description of the times in which we live. Modern in its production and outlook, shifting sands of organic and electronic soundscapes map the psychic geography of our (internal, external, online, spiritual) reality.

Encompassing folk, shoegaze, art-rock, prog and orchestral traditions, the new album was produced by Tomlinson in his studio in Poplar, London. Meticulously captured one instrument at a time, 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is a psychoacoustic odyssey of impossible proportions.

>From the grandeur of opener 'Blink And You'll Miss It', and the liminal landscapes of instrumental tracks 'A Dream' and 'A Meadow (Part I)’ featuring Shovel Dance Collective’s Jacken Elswyth, and the stormy, tumultuous 'Your Flight (Dying/Another Dream)' featuring vocals by Dry Cleaning's Florence Shaw, to the solemn beauty of 'I'm On The Border' - a poetic exploration of immigration and global unrest, the universe Tomlinson has created is hyper-real; the falling of a pin detectable in the midst of a raging storm at sea.

Today MF Tomlinson shares the album's centrepiece and 9-minute title track, ‘Die To Wake Up From A Dream’. Sonically drawing from the work of John Martyn, Talk Talk and My Bloody Valentine, Tomlinson tells us of dreams of monsters in his childhood, before drifting into long days and nights of weary work.

“It speaks to the sensation of drowning in the years. Scenes flash by so fast we soon know that we are in a dream, then a nightmare," he says.

As the song’s steady pulse builds to an unholy crescendo - digital effects warp and distort like the walls of the world crumbling. But – "When you die in a dream you are safe. When you die in a dream you dream another dream. This is the deus ex machina for us all to remember - that for most, when things seem darker than ever, happiness still exists beyond the tiny parameters that we have set for it. In realising your own power you set yourself free - not one day, but right now. This song is a treatise on resilience, hope and the frankly wildly psychedelic experience of being alive," Tomlinson says.

The song’s jubilant final refrain "it just gets better and better” - recorded during a live set at London’s Cafe Oto in September 2024 - is anchored with a dose of dark humour, speaking to the courage it takes to trust your strength, knowing full well how fragile you are. "It is a dark joke, but at least now we’re all in on it,” Tomlinson notes.

Speaking more on the release of the album’s title track, MF Tomlinson said: “It makes sense to start here - but there’s almost too much to tell. This is one story - but listening to the songs speak to each other is the true meaning of the album. One world is always dreaming of the other."

MF Tomlinson's new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is out 11th July on PRAH Recordings. New single 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is out now. MF Tomlinson supports Melin Melyn on tour this month.

MORE ABOUT MF TOMLINSON

London-based, Brisbane/Meanjin-born singer-songwriter MF Tomlinson made his debut with the release of his 'Last Days Of Rome' EP in 2020 and has since released two critically acclaimed full length albums, 2021's 'Strange Time' and its follow up and sister album 'We Are Still Wild Horses' in 2023 via PRAH Recordings. 

Merging together ambient, experimental jazz, acid-folk and indie folk to otherworldly new territory, 'We Are Still Wild Horses' received universal widespread acclaim upon its release from The Times, Mojo, Uncut, The Line Of Best Fit, Record Collector, Music OMH, The Arts Desk, Beats Per Minute, Gigwise, amongst many others.

Tomlinson's work has seen him traverse the globe, performing at festivals from Finland to Australia, and at the widely adored End of the Road Festival, not to mention support UK/EU tours with American heavyweights Geese and TORRES, alongside coveted support dates with Dry Cleaning, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, DeVotchKa, James Yorkston and Nina Persson - to name but a few.

 

PRAISE FOR MF TOMLINSON + WE ARE STILL WILD HORSES

"Offering variations on chamber rock with a solemn grandeur that simmers with tension"
Mojo (4/5)

"A literate, sensitive crooner of lugubrious yet meticulously arranged songs"
Uncut (8/10)

"An album you feel more in your gut than anywhere else...an opus on emotion"
Gigwise (9/10)

“We Are Still Wild Horses reveals Tomlinson as a rare thing today, a talented, depressive singer-songwriter with a sense of humour”
The Times (4/5)

"Amid wave upon wave of beautiful, orchestral arrangements, Tomlinson and his cast of players have created something very special indeed"
Record Collector

“Tomlinson is many things; a wordsmith, a commanding vocal presence, and a conductor of light and dark. But at his core, he is a deeply talented songwriter that can conjure emotion via the slightest movement"
The Line Of Best Fit (8/10)

"A work of delicate assurance that finds MF Tomlinson reaching towards unknowable truths"
Clash Magazine

"Gliding psych-rock... overflows with ideas – both musical and lyrical"
Beats Per Minute