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about
'A Cloud' is the first track from the second album by MF Tomlinson, which will be released on PRAH Recordings (the Umlauts, Pozi, Group Listening) early 2023.
It is accompanied by the first part of a theatre, dance, and film work conceived, directed, and choreographed by MF’s collaborator Daisy JT Smith. The album and the film will be unveiled piece by piece throughout the year.
More about 'A Cloud':
A curious, dream-like snapshot into Tomlinson's psyche, it is about how painful it is to live without your innermost desires. MF explains... 'It is, in the same breath, about how beautiful life is despite all of its sadness, and how even the smallest moments can satisfy your spirit. It begins where Strange Time leaves off, in my apartment. From my window, we move through scenes of the street, through memories and hallucinations."
lyrics
A Cloud
Outside my window
There’s a cloud
Floating overhead
Instead of rain, it dropped a rope ladder down
That dangled just too high to reach
It floated merrily, merrily, merrily across the ocean
Over the water
The rungs of the ladder
Skipping off the highest waves
Getting caught on a mountain, one day it came down in the cold
In a blaze of colour and gold
And I cried out ‘If I was a just a little bit taller,
Think of all the places I could soar’
But to live amongst these lights so long
Is what I moved to the city for
Outside my window
There’s a guy
Going off his head
At all hours of the day and of the night
He twists and writhes and almost falls into the street
Crying terribly, terribly, terribly out to no-one
A broken apostle
Said, ‘The world of humans is awful
There has never been a better time -
you believe in a lie’
But on summer nights when I write my songs
And the good old boys listen to reggaeton
In the car park outside the Travelodge
Outside my window
I see myself floating over to them
To offer all the guys a smoke
To be a part of the midnight salon
Is why I strayed away from home so long
Outside my window
There is a cloud coming tonight
Rolling in and blocking out the light
Growing and blowing in year after year
Outside my window
What’s this I see?
That little cloud is coming back
With an olive branch between its teeth
It says, ‘Next time come with me’
And just at that moment, you came home
And that cloud scurried off - they scare easy you know
And for a second there I was all alone, by my window
And I thought to myself if I just had I had a little bit longer
Think of all the things I could know
But to hear your voice call across the hall
That’s what I live in the city for
credits
released May 7, 2022
Written, arranged, and recorded by MF Tomlinson
Produced by MF Tomlinson and Arie van der Poel
Lead vocals produced by Ellie Mason
String arrangements by Alex MacKenzie and Sigitas Botvycius
Cello engineered by Joe Connor
Mixed by Arie van der Poel
Mastered by Guy Davie, Electric Mastering, London 2021
Cover and Insert by Chiara Baima Poma
Photography by Andrea Zvadova
Ed Grimshaw - Drums and percussion
Ben Manning - Double bass
Joe Connor - Piano
Gail Tasker - Flute
Connie Chatwin - Violin
Emily Young - Cello
MF Tomlinson - Acoustic and vocals
An eclectic singer/songwriter “who seems to use music as a means to excavate within the soul” - Clash. Primarily a
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