Not content at having gifted the world two of the year's standout full-lengths in Deborah Jordan's 'See in the Dark' and Georgie Sweet's 'Misunderstood', Futuristica Music now announce the release of Nathan Thomas's debut album, 'Still Water'.
Like Georgie Sweet before him, Thomas is an indelible talent who has spent years as part of the Futuristica fold having contributed to some of their landmark releases. Simon S's fantastic 'Music 4 Alternative Souls' (2018) benefitted greatly from Thomas's inclusion on 'Sunblind' and the accompanying Simon S remix, and then most recently, Thomas contributed vocals and writing to the milestone project by Deborah Jordan this year, 'See in the Dark', securing a coveted guest spot on the album's title track. As an added bonus, we'd also direct you to the exquisite live "Futuristica Family Sessions" performance of Deborah Jordan's 'Phoenix' which also features Nathan Thomas appearing on guitar alongside Mark Rapson on keyboards.
The Futuristica ties certainly run deep and I can only imagine that 'Still Water' is an album that comes with incredible pride from the label who are unrivalled when it comes to identifying unique, distinctive and emerging talent.
Spearheaded by the brilliant Marc Rapson and his production on lead single 'Namaste' with its excellent multi-instrumental-shot video, Nathan Thomas presents his vision of contemporary R&B over the course of the album's ten tracks that really serve as a wonderful introduction to the artist and his talent.
With production on the album handled by two of Futuristica's sonic architects in Simon S and Mark Rapson, the music throughout runs the gamut of contemporary soul from the quintessential R&B stylings of 'Resilience' and 'Namaste', to the future soul aesthetic of 'Sunblind' and the hip-hop-inspired compositions exemplified by a track like 'Manifest'. The title track in particular warrants special mention - production by Simon S who almost reverts to his Jazz Chronicles moniker for a haunting backdrop that sees Thomas in a reflective state as he meditates: "a message to the man I was, the storm is where the years were lost, your strength alone couldn't hold the tide".
As a singer, songwriter and a musician, Nathan Thomas brings a lot to the table - through not just his work with the Futuristica camp, but beyond, his contributions can be invaluable to the music-making process; 'Still Water', however, now serves as the project that sees Thomas take that decided step towards centre stage. He's disturbed the waters now and with confidence I can say the ripples will travel outwards for quite some time.
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