Performing artist Tom Snowdon already has an impressive back-catalogue - one album with his first band Lowlakes, two albums with No Mono - but now he shares details of his first solo album Lonely Tree. In the past, Snowdon’s work has centred on hazy atmospheres, and in expressing emotions via metaphors of elemental forces - water, ice, air and light. His affinity with nature is still present on Lonely Tree, but here we see Snowdon navigating his ruminations and desires in a more direct way, offering glimpses into a more personal story. With one eye on the past, and another on the “what could have been” (what Snowdon calls ‘the lingering alternative’), he yearns for a stabilising hand to keep him present and hopeful in the here and now, and sends his voice reaching out across broad sonic landscapes to find one. Across its nine songs Lonely Tree is an exploration of loss and hope, of things ending and new things beginning. Led by Snowdon's famously haunting voice, the album is a journey into a dream-like world of the intangible, and one of deeply personal reflection.
The photos on the album art were taken on Western Arrernte Country, west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs - Snowdon’s home town. During the emotionally tumultuous time of writing, Snowdon spent periods at home and felt its safety and peace. The landscape of Central Australia has long been inspiration for the artist, and is something he echoes on Lonely Tree - the dramatic beauty, the peace and lingering space, its otherworldliness; and also the extreme nature of it - the harsh climate and textures of rock and sand, the big skies and the extreme isolation that welcomes people looking for an escape.
