Coming off the very successful ‘ You Are and You’ve Always Been’ , the third full-length album from Jersey City-based singer-songwriter Tom Barrett (Overlake, American Watercolor Movement, The Everymen) was recently followed by a big move to Nashville. Barrett known for his subtle lo-fi brand of Indie Folk taking cues from other mellow-voiced influences such as Nick Drake and Lou Barlow.
Barrett’s recent music is evocative of Gordon Lightfoot or Sea Change-era Beck, while Barrett’s deep-voiced, almost conversational delivery could bring to mind for some either Mark Eitzel or The National’s Matt Berninger. Barrett’s first music since his LP is another indie folk classic titled “Born Alive”.
Barrett says of the newest effort, “There’s not much I can really say about this song. It’s pretty straightforward. Coming out of Overlake and other more bombastic bands projects and bands, I’ve really been enjoying the process of making songs that have these very simple arrangements, only a handful of instruments over softly played, muted drums.
Barrett continues, “I can’t say what the song is about exactly. It isn’t about anything specific. The words are random thoughts strung together in a way that made sense to me at the time, just like all my other songs. The “cold makes us shake” line is about how we’re all forced to feel and experience things we may not want to simply by being born into our lives, and all we can do is let it wash over us and hopefully come through clean on the other end.”
Tom Barrett always the one of the deeper thinkers and introverted members for decades in the North NJ Scene offered this, “Without bringing up the P word, that last chorus of the song came to me back in December when numbers were on the rise again, just like the two Decembers before it. Cyclical sickness and heightened paranoia were both feeling like new holiday traditions. That just seemed to feed into the part about how unkind we can be toward one another, despite, or maybe because of, whatever internal battle each one of us is fighting on a daily basis. Everyone needs empathy, and I admit that empathy is a difficult ability to for me to access sometimes, even with people I love. I try but I don’t always succeed. And sometimes I don’t try. It’s hard to put chaos on pause and remember that everyone is suffering on some level because they’re good at hiding it, or because you’re suffering yourself. So I guess that’s what it’s about. I suppose it’s not the most uplifting message to put out into the world, but it’s the one I have right now. I do hope it helps.”
Today Rebel Noise is proud to present Tom Barrett "Born Alive" song premiere:
