T. Thomason has a lot to celebrate, and at the top of the list right now is the release of his self-titled album. T. Thomason is a project four years in the making, with nine songs that T. feels fit that period of time, and capture everything that was going on with him.
T.'s new album was released on Wednesday, September 25 and on Thursday night, he hit the stage at The Baby G in Toronto to play, smile, dance, and share the emotion and stories that this record represents. Before the show, we sat down with T. to talk about his new album, its' title, the songs, and more.
The first question we asked was about the decision to self-title the album and why that was important to him. T. told us that he had never had a self-titled project before under his old name, but that he had always wondered when the time would come for it. He talked about the natural fit for an artist's first album to be self-titled as an introduction of themselves, or for an important album to be self-titled because of the weight it carries for the artist. For T., you could say that both of these reasons fit. This is his first album under his new name, and it is an important project and collection of songs that holds a lot of meaning for him. He said that when it came time to make the decision, "it just made sense. Ya, it has to be self-titled. It just makes total sense." And we agree.
We did play the hypothetical game, asking T. which song he would choose as the album title if he hadn't gone this route, and without much hesitation, he told us that it would have been Bliss or maybe even Nuclear Blue. He added that Bliss was in the mix before the final decision was made.
This album has been in the works over the last four years. That's a long time for songs to be written and recorded and produced for an album (from the public perspective, behind-the-scenes we know there are a lot of projects that have this kind of process) and for changes to be made. We asked T. which songs were the oldest and the newest of the nine on the tracklist, knowing that sometimes an artist can have a song for years before it gets released, and sometimes a song is written in the studio on the second-to-last day of recording an album. He told us Bliss came first with King Of Spades, making them the oldest. The newest, or most recent, would be Bad Joke. He also told us that there were production decisions that he and his producer kept working on as the release got closer and closer. They worked on songs and sounds, tinkering and making changes before they finally had to let it go and be finished. He told us that they were kind of getting in their heads, but realized that the more they did, the more there was a chance they were going to ruin this record. So they let it be done.
When the time came to play the new songs on stage, T. was all in. After opening acts Wolf Saga and Shawnee got things warmed up, it was his time to shine. We do want to give some love to those openers. Both artists were fantastic in their spots. Wolf Saga gave us the acoustic singer-songwriter vibes that pull you in and hit you in the story-loving feels. And Shawnee, dang, she has a powerful voice, a commanding presence on stage, and we'd see her live again in a heartbeat.
During our chat, T. told us how much he believes the songs on his new album need to be heard live. How the experience of the songs is something that he feels needs to be shared and is best taken in live. He told us that after Toronto he's on his way to play in Montreal and then Halifax before heading overseas. We asked T. if there was an artist that he'd want to open for and play these songs, and he immediately pointed out that Tegan and Sara have a 2020 tour coming up, and we agreed that it would be pretty great.
After an amazing performance and introduction by the evening's non-binary drag king, Gay Jesus, T. and his band came to the stage and got right into it. The set started with Birdsong, track one on the album and a great beginning to his show. And as the assembled group of friends and fans moved closer to the stage and sang and danced, it was easy to feel a sense of community and positive energy in the dimly lit back room on Dundas St. W in Toronto.
Related: Hope - Introducing T. Thomason from CTV's The LaunchT. owned the stage and the room. This was his night. And as he continued with Loser and then Lana's America and then King Of Spades, the crowd fell deeper into him and the vibe and the stories and sounds. It was special to witness. Special to be a part of as we stood in the room. And special for T. and everything he has done to make this album happen.
T. Thomason is a nine-track album that will take you for a ride. From Birdsong off the top to Bliss at the bottom, it is 33 minutes of an artist giving you everything he has. It is his story of the last four years. It is emotional and connecting. It is storytelling and it is sonic playfulness.
We invite you to listen to it and really take it in. And T. invites you to tell him what you think. Before we wrapped our chat he told us that he's looking forward to that part. He's sat with these longs for a long time.
Now it's our turn.
T Thomason Album Tracklist
