22 Dec 2024
Gareth Thomas - Single Review: Wake Up
07 Oct 2020 // A review by Corinne Rutherford
Kiwi artist, Gareth Thomas well known for his past endeavours with iconic New Zealand band Goodshirt,
has released his latest single following on from My Dog on the upcoming 2021 album Bits. Wake Up is described as the "morning anthem for sleepyheads everywhere". This is a unique song which captures Gareth's experimental, colourful pixelated indie-pop perfectly and turns it into your early morning wake up call.
I would not call the visuals to this track complicated, rather digital avant-garde and mesmerizing in a simplistic psychedelic kind of way. The video which mimics the sequence of a soft light wake up call to a digital clock face, follows the flow of the song starting softly and climaxing in a bright orangey glow. I loved the addition of a digital cat.
Wake Up starts softly, much like an alarm and as the lyrics suggest perhaps the subject of this song is reluctant to leave the soft confines of slumber. As the track progresses, it gets gradually louder in a welcoming manner not in a harsh brain jarring beeping way.
This song is captivating, with gentle vocalism which matches the theme. A pleasant way to greet the day.
Rating:
( 4 / 5 )
About Gareth Thomas
Gareth’s passion for songwriting, production and a hefty dose of experimentation began in the late 1990’s. While most local bands were spending their hard earned cents on studio recording time, Goodshirt looked to the future and officially became the first NZ band to record an album on a Pentium 486 PC, in a garden shed, and take it to the top of the charts. Gareth’s computer may be long gone, along with the shed, but his proudly DIY and ‘outside the box’ approach to music making continues to underpin his work.
Gareth released his debut solo album Lady Alien to critical acclaim late 2010, with the Dominion Post stating the album as “Kiwi indie pop at it’s best”. The single Google Song received an honourable mention at the annual International Songwriting Competition in 2010, which was followed up by another nod in 2016 with the single All Eyes In The Room, a cut from his follow up album, Fizzy Milk.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Gareth Thomas
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