Jon Gomm, the UK based acoustic guitar virtuoso, who will release his new album The Faintest Idea on Kscope on 16th October 2020 has shared the video for 2nd single ‘Deep Sea Fishes’. Once again teaming up with The Samsara Collective, the video was filmed in the stunning setting of Niamos Radical Arts Theatre, Manchester, to showcase the immersive and expressive emotional quality of Jon’s music.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR DEEP SEA FISHES.
Jon discusses the meaning behind the track, ‘I have many mental health diagnoses, worn like medals earned in a war against myself.
One is rapid cycling bipolar, which leaves me with frequent bouts of depression. When I’m depressed, I hide in worlds sheltered from human emotion. Like science, nature. And one time I was hunkered down watching a documentary about fish. This was new footage, of undiscovered creatures who live in the very deepest parts of the very deepest oceans. Down there it’s cold, bleak, and there’s almost no light, and almost no life. And these fish were hideous. Deformed beasts with terrifying fangs and luminescent lures.
And I thought about these tragic monsters living alone in this wasteland, and it left me pretty upset. For days. Until eventually I realised, they must come from somewhere. There must be a daddy hideous sea monster, and a mummy hideous sea monster, and despite the odds they must meet, and fall in love, and make little baby hideous sea monsters. And is that so very different from us? So I wrote this love song.’
When most people look at an acoustic guitar, they see exactly that – a wooden box with strings. As one of the pioneers of the modern fingerstyle sound, however, Jon Gomm has a rare gift for turning one instrument into what feels like an entire orchestra…
The Blackpool-born singer-songwriter’s 2003 home-recorded debut, Hypertension, was nothing short of a musical revelation: drumming beats, tapping chords and striking harmonics on his acoustic underneath that warm, soulful voice.
Things changed for Jon with landmark single Passionflower (https://youtu.be/nY7GnAq6Znw ) racking up millions of views on YouTube and other media platforms in 2012 – with British legend Stephen Fry describing him on mainstream television as someone “playing the guitar in a way I’d never seen it played before” and “an all-round genius“. Follow up album Secrets Nobody Keeps arrived in 2013, further cementing his stature as one of the driving forces behind an acoustic revolution – but now, having signed a label deal for the very first time in his career, he’s managed to truly refine the pop sensibilities and emotive expression within that unmistakable wall of sound. Latest full-length The Faintest Idea is set for release this October.
Perhaps one of the greatest surprises with The Faintest Idea is how it contrasts the incredible human warmth of Gomm’s acoustic articulation with more icy affairs, thanks to the synth parts and production work from Australian musician Andy Sorenson. Instead of a war between man and machine, the collaboration delicately cross-pollinates simple honesty with more forward-thinking atmospheres. It is a contemporary masterpiece – rich in its sense of paths travelled and roads taken, while also daring to gaze into the unexpected future.
The album is complimented by the delicate hand drawn pen and ink cover art created by Lee Zimmerman.
The Faintest Idea is due to be released on 16th October on CD, double LP, digital and as a stunning limited edition deluxe 3 disc hardback book edition which will feature – CD1 – The Faintest Idea album, CD 2 – The Naked Artist Mix – a stripped back version of the album; a DVD containing 6 exclusive performances filmed in a medieval church, guitar technique presentations, a 35 minute Jon Gomm interview, song description videos and The Faintest Idea in high resolution stereo audio. The beautiful book will feature Lee Zimmerman illustrations, song descriptions, hand written lyrics and full track tablature for the song “Check You’re Still Breathing”. All formats are available to pre-order HERE (https://jongomm.lnk.to/TheFaintestIdea)
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR PREVIOUS SINGLE ‘COCOON”
The Faintest Idea – UK & Eire headline tour
tickets on sale now with album and ticket bundles available HERE (https://jongomm.lnk.to/TheFaintestIdea)
December 2020
Sat 5 – Huddersfield – Parish Pub
Sun 6 – York – The Crescent
Thu 10 – Trowbridge – Emmanuels Yard
Fri 11 – Cheltenham – Frog And Fiddle
Sat 12 – Swansea – Sin City
Jan 2021
Mon 4 – Southampton – Joiners
Tue 5 – Brighton – Komedia
Wed 6 – Bury St Edmunds – Apex
Fri 15 – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
Sat 16 – Bristol – Thekla
Sun 17 – Birmingham – Hare & Hounds
Fri 22 – Manchester – The Bread Shed
Sat 23 – Liverpool – Leaf
Fri 29 – Leeds – Brudenell
Feb 2021
Wed 3 – Runcorn – Brindley Theatre
Fri 5 – Milton Keynes – Craufurd Arms
Sat 6 – Haverhill – Haverhill Arts Centre
Sun 7 – Reading – Sub 89
Thu 11 – Cardiff – The Globe
Fri 12 – Blackpool – Bootleg Social
Thu 18 – Preston – The Ferret
Fri 19 – Newcastle – Cluny
Sat 20 – Glasgow – Oran Mor
Sat 27 – Dublin – Academy 2
March 2021
Fri 5 – London – Bush Hall
Sat 6 – Guildford – Boileroom
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