Tom Walker releases Leave A Light On

‘Leave A Light On’; a wave of joy led by dark undertones on a journey to one extraordinary genre junction.

Tom Walker’s new single accentuates the heavy and hard-hitting acoustic sound we’re used to and develops it into something much more unusual. The track initiates as a gut-wrenching acoustic piano piece with Walker’s vocals revealing the raw calamitous emotion of the song. From here, the single is layered with skittering drums and pitched up synths to crescendo to a chorus fueled by mild trap music. That’s right. Trap music!

Now don’t get me wrong, both the track and the accompanying video have been produced perfectly. The track was co-written and produced by Steve Mac (Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, Anne Marie’s ‘Alarm’) and the video, which quite transparently encapsulates the isolation and distance between Tom and the friend he’s reaching out to in this emotional plea, was produced by Charles Mehling (The Script, Paolo Nutini, Olly Murs, Emeli Sande) but something just doesn’t seem right to me.

In every right, it’s a Tom Walker song. The intense soul-stirring lyrics, the distinctive gravelly vocals, the acoustic passion present throughout – these are the reasons why people fall in love with the music of Tom Walker. It’s the chorus I have an issue with. This whole trap vibe the chorus excretes doesn’t feel ‘Tom Walker’, as such, in the slightest – it was certainly a shock when I first heard it. It’s almost as if Tom Walker is trying to the next Alex Clare – it seems he’s switched up his style for part of the single to gainer more ‘pop’ attention, it’s just 2011, or even YouTube, pop if anything.

With the chorus aside, the track in its entirety is an easy listen and quite beautifully portrays a strong story of loyalty, forgiveness and compassion.

Tom is currently on tour with The Script, however, you can catch him on his own headline tour at any of the following dates: (tickets available here)

NOVEMBER 2017

Mon 20th – LEEDS, Chapel
Tues 21st – GLASGOW, King Tuts
Wed 22nd – DUBLIN, Academy
Thurs 23rd – MANCHESTER, Night & Day Café
Sat 25th – BIRMINGHAM, Caste & Falcon
Sun 26th – BRISTOL, Exchange
Tues 28th – BRIGHTON, Green Door Store
Wed 29th – LONDON, Garage