You’re driving home, it’s midnight. You’ve got your headphones in, and a warm jacket zipped to the top. It’s raining, and the raindrops are falling dramatically and frankly quite elegantly down the window. Who are you listening to? We’re bumping Eora-based singer-songwriter total tommy. Glo-fi pop with a grunge edge, total tommy is the artist to look out for on those stormy nights. Her new song, ‘Losing Out’ wrestles with the pull of an addictive and all-consuming crush. total tommy is our Independent Artist of the Week, and joined Ify and Benny on Up For It for a chat about her new song, her inspirations and her first live show.
total tommy started her music journey young at 14, and at 18 gave it her all, exploring different genres and sounds, finally landing on something that has become totally hers.
“‘Microdose’ was the one where I was like this is the sound. It really unlocked the entire body of work that will come one day. It sort of opened it up, and everything else was based on that.”
Live, the song swings in with a restless energy that is infectious and filled with driving percussion:
“I love to push it to real rock-grunge. It’s really, really fun, and playing it live, it definitely leans that way.”
Her first show was just last month at the Chippo for the single launch.It left us and her wanting more.
“We’ve been rehearsing for a bit and I had no idea how much energy I’d come out on stage with, but you just can’t replicate that in rehearsal… I keep saying to everyone, I’m like, all I want to do is play shows.”
We are greedy for more total tommy! More music, more live shows. Feeling cryptic, she left us with only this:
“There’s so many songs, is all I can say.”
Leaving it on that mysterious note. She’s definitely one to watch, so get ready to get wrapped up in all that is total tommy. Listen back to the full chat with Ify and Benny, or stream total tommy’s latest track.
Words by Freya Shields