"When you have four people writing songs it sounds compromised, but there are no constraints on me. If I want eight bass guitars on a track I can have that. I can have what I want."
Thus speaks TOM VEK: clearly a young man who has no intention of accepting anything other than success on his own terms. He's already recorded an album called "We Have Sound" that's the subject of a bidding war rumoured to involve a six figure sum, played all the parts on it himself like the talented bugger he is AND has a home-built studio where he learnt his craft with his recording engineer Dad who's seen it all before with the likes of Fleetwood Mac.
Some guys get all the breaks, huh? Yeah, to a degree, but to be fair Tom does have the material to back it up, at least if debut single "If You Want" is anything to go by. It's bouncy, groovebound pop with a distinct 80s twist. Admittedly, the rubber-thumbed Mark King-isms in the bassline department are a tad worrying, but there are discernible traces of sharp NYC funk a la Talking Heads and The Rapture in there too and the way Tom lugubriously dispenses that "I guess you're proud to be different" catchline with just the right amount of disdain is undoubtedly a good thing.
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Stay on board for second tune "A Little Word In Your Ear", too. This time, it's all hi-hat riding, shape-shifting percussion and sneaky basslines snaking around the corner as Tom lets fly stoned wisdom like "the cigarettes you smoke have no smoke to blow." Er, right. Anyway, let's instead dwell on the neat, skinny guitars that come straight out of the "Rough Trade Shops Post-Punk" compendium and note that our Tom has something going for him that will ensure we hang about to see if "We Have Sound" really is as mind-blowing as they say.
Alright then, Tom. First round to you. We're waiting with arms folded for the big one. Here we are now. Entertain us.
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