There's two paths you can take when your an artist going through a dark time. You either write about the experience or you write about the solution. Thomston's second single of the year The Heights sees him take the latter route, taking a "pretty dark year" and turning it into a positive anthem about courageously jumping into the unknown.
The Heights follows on from Acid Rain and takes a similarly raw approach to pop music. Production-wise it's far more bolstered than its bare-boned brother Acid Rain but lyrically it's honest and direct. It's armed with a mighty chorus that's as strong a pop moment as you're going to hear this year and tinged with gospel undertones for that goosebump moment.
We spoke to Thomston about the new single and also who he believes is driving pop music forward right now.
Where were you when you wrote this?
I wrote this one in Sydney, a couple hours before I had to get to the airport.
There's an ambitious overtone to this song lyrically. What inspired that sense of jumping into the unknown?
This song is just as much about ambition, fearlessness and strength as it is about self-doubt, anxiety, depression and the fear of failure. After a pretty dark year it was really important that I stop lingering in the dark feelings and try and turn the curveballs into something productive. I had a handful of existential crises which would usually lead me on a long drive in the middle of the night quite literally talking aloud to myself, trying to put the weight I was feeling into boxes I could articulate and understand. these would result in these weird half-epiphanies that I would take back home with me to figure out how to use them. ‘The Heights’ marks the point I was able to view the cynical, negative voice of self-doubt in me as a seperate entity. I saw him as confused and uncertain, and in need of a friend and a pep talk, instead of a harsh/defensive response. It surprised me how much that changed things, I felt lighter, and wrote the lyric “I learnt to love you right”. That was jump-off point that informed the rest of the song.
Both this and 'Acid Rain' have gone bigger sonically than anything on your debut album. Was there a shift in the way you approached songwriting?
I’ve come to understand the importance of dynamics. In both acid rain and the heights I really held back the biggest moment until the last chorus. Taking people on a trip from one end of the song to the other is super interesting to me right now.
What artists do you think are carving the sound of the future right now?
Rosalia is leading a movement from Spain right now with an incredibly forward-thinking way of approaching a classical Spanish style of music. Frank Ocean is always miles ahead of the wave. Dua Lipa has overcome the hardest task of becoming a household name and is coming into this next era with a lot more creative control and I’m so excited to see how she’ll wield that, whether or not she uses her platform to steer the direction of pop music for the next little while or just make some great pop music. Either way, her voice is so singular.
It sounds like your conscious of making music that's accessible but also ambitious and forward-thinking. Is this something you actively think about when writing?
Accessible music is so powerful, not only to grab attention and convey a message, but also to make the listener actually feel good. Music is such a safe and comforting place for so many people who deal with some tough things, so contributing to that is something that motivates me to make accessible art. It’s such a privilege to be able to make the song that could help someone through a rough patch with their mental health, or losing a friend, breaking up with a partner etc. being ambitious and forward thinking is something that I believe comes naturally when you work with interesting people and make sure to have a diverse musical diet. I try to listen to as much music as possible.
Describe this new era of Thomston in a maximum of three words.
Self-assured + thriving.
