Image credit: Eddie Whelan
Billy Nomates, the project of the Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, today shares a new track, ‘vertigo’. Described by MOJO in their 4* lead review as “finding itself on an unexpected precipice” and Uncut in their 9/10 review as “sounding uncannily like a post-punk Kim Carnes”, ‘vertigo’ is the final track to be shared prior to the release of her much anticipated second studio album, CACTI, out this Friday 13 January 2023 via Invada Records.
The track follows the release of three BBC Radio 6 Music A-listed singles including the gentle, 80s-influenced, synth-pop bop blue bones which was a celebration of life, the spiky, synth-powered spite, and balance is gone, which charted Tor’s attempts to find purpose, as well as saboteur forcefield, on which Tor lays bare her propensity for self-sabotage.
Speaking about “vertigo”, Tor offers: “i think vertigo scratches around the soul crushing apathy you can feel for achieving or feeling life’s big things…”
Listen to “vertigo” here and watch the visualiser below.
Recorded at her flat and at Invada Studios, CACTI (pre-order and pre-save here), is a huge step up for the artist, who received widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous 2020 debut album, with heavy airplay across BBC Radio 6 Music and support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.
Though every bit as unrepentant as Billy Nomates’ debut, CACTI comes from a much more exposed place and sees Tor further develop her instinctive, inventive songwriting and production. Unafraid to wade into the traumas of the past two years and the eerie sense of apathy that lingers, alongside heartache and more political themes, the 12-track collection openly confronts uncomfortable truths, as Tor puts it, “70-80% of being bold is about being vulnerable as hell.”
Maries said: “Writing CACTI took just over a year. I wrote very intensely and then none at all. (This seems to be the way I work best). I picked up old drum machines, mapped out things in my kitchen with the same small micro keyboard I always use and then raided the cupboards and rooms at Invada Studios, to play and experiment with old synths, an upright piano, this weird organ thing. I hope everyone finds their own narrative in CACTI. I think it’s about surviving it all.”
Following a UK tour late last year with most dates sold out, Billy Nomates will next be on the road in the UK and Europe in March and April 2023, with a show in her hometown of Bristol at Marble Factory on 29th April and her biggest headline show to date at London’s Kentish Town Forum on 27th April 2023. Tickets are available here and full live dates are as listed below.
14/3/23 – Grand Mix, Lille, France
15/3/23 – Petit Bain, Paris, France
16/3/23 – L’astrolabe, Orleans, France
17/3/23 – Rockschool Barbey, Bordeaux, France
20/3/23 – El Sol, Madrid, Spain
22/3/23 – La Nau, Barcelona, Spain
24/3/23 – Le Périscope, Lyon, France
25/3/23 – Covo Club, Bologna, Italy
27/3/23 – Magnolia, Milan, Italy
28/3/23 – Bogen F, Zurich, Switzerland
29/3/23 – Milla, Munich, Germany
31/3/23 Badehaus, Berlin, Germany
1/4/23 – Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2/4/23 – Molotow, Hamburg, Germany
4/4/23 – Blueshell, Cologne, Germany
5/4/23 – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands
6/4/23 – Botanique Orangerie, Brussels, Belgium
17/4/23 – Tramshed, Cardiff
19/4/23 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
20/4/23 – New Century Hall, Manchester
21/4/23 – Stylus, Leeds
22/4/23 – St Lukes, Glasgow
24/4/23 – Boiler Shop, Newcastle
25/4/23 – Institute 1, Birmingham
27/4/23 – Kentish Town Forum, London
28/4/23 – Chalk, Brighton
29/4/23 – Marble Factory, Bristol
Tracklist:
balance is gone
black curtains in the bag
blue bones (deathwish)
CACTI
saboteur forcefield
roundabout sadness
spite
fawner
same gun
vertigo
apathy is wild
blackout signal
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