Tom A. Smith releases the deluxe edition of, ‘Put On A Record Tommy’, arriving with the theatrical 'Dance Floor Magic (Groove Wizard)'.
If ‘Put On A Record Tommy’ has been his invitation to abandon inhibitions and surrender to the music, ‘Dancefloor Magic’ takes that idea to its wonderfully strange conclusion. Built around the fictional Groove Wizard, the track imagines Tommy’s Dance Place falling under a supernatural spell, with its inhabitants presented with one deceptively simple challenge: dance like their lives depend on it.
As Tom explains, “A wizard who we know as the ‘Groove Wizard’, has cast a spell on Tommy’s Dance Place! The only way to lift it is to have the best night of your life and to Dance! Dance! Dance! Fail to do so… You may never leave.”
Listen to ‘Dance Floor Magic (Groove Wizard)’ on Mackems Music.
It’s a suitably eccentric climax to a project that has seen the 22-year-old Sunderland songwriter increasingly blur the boundaries between indie-rock, pop and the euphoric possibilities of the dancefloor.
The deluxe edition of the EP pushes that world considerably further. Alongside original favourites ‘SFX’, ‘Our Song’, ‘The Only One’ and its title-track come new additions including ‘Am I Ever Gonna Be A Rockstar?’, ‘Dance Floor Magic (Groove Wizard)’, ‘Carried Away’, ‘No Matter What’ and ‘The Band’, as well as Tom’s take on Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’ and extended mixes of ‘Our Song’ and ‘Put On A Record Tommy’.
Together, the twelve tracks turn Tommy’s Dance Place from the backdrop of the original EP into something closer to its own miniature universe, complete with characters, lessons, rules and an increasingly surreal mythology.
Beneath the humour and theatricality, however, sits an artist undergoing a significant period of creative evolution. Tom has taken an increasingly hands-on role in shaping and producing his music, allowing him to follow ideas instinctively rather than confining himself to a particular version of what a Tom A. Smith record is expected to sound like.
That freedom has accompanied an extraordinary period of momentum. His recent live run has included a locked-out show at The Great Escape, a record turnout at the BBC Introducing Stage at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland and packed festival appearances at the Isle of Wight Festival, Truck and Kendal Calling, alongside huge outdoor shows with The Maccabees, The Kooks and The K’s.
