The latest single from Brisbane artist tomtom, aka William Tom, marks the start of a new musical chapter for the multi-instrumentalist.
Alt-rock tune Better Know Better was “written in a fit”, with the Miss Blanks and G Elenil collaborator putting a lot of energy into getting its vocal intensity right.
“I put the track on, turned it up really loud and just started screaming, freestyling into the microphone,” tomtom told The Music.
“And actually, what you hear on the track is those on-the-spot screams! The energy of that wild take was so good I couldn't do any better."
He also took an interesting approach to the track’s lyrics.
"I often have trouble with lyrics, overthinking it and feeling like it’s not good enough when the song is really strong,” he said.
“So I got really amped up one afternoon and made myself freestyle some vocals, recording what I was doing. Then I listened back to the words that came out and wrote down what I thought I was saying.
“It’s kind of spooky thinking about it now because the song has a really strong meaning for me, but when I 'wrote' it, I was just reacting to the jumbled freestyles, like a verbal Rorschach test."
Better Know Better is the first taste of a yet-to-be-announced EP.
Last year, tomtom was named the inaugural winner of artist discovery and development competition GYRO BIG BOOST, receiving a prize pack worth $10,000 that assisted in bringing the new song to life.
