Back in March we previewed Die To Wake Up From A Dream, the new full-length MF Tomlinson coming next month via PRAH Recordings, a record which sees the Brisbane/Meanjin born, London based artist continue to test the boundaries of folk. “Described by Tomlinson himself as a treatise on ‘resilience, hope and the frankly wildly psychedelic experience of being alive’,” we wrote, “the lead single and title track shows one such possibility, drawing on everything from John Martyn to Talk Talk and My Bloody Valentine to create a sound which might originate in folk but ends up beyond any easy genre categorisation.”
With the album’s release on the horizon, Tomlinson has returned with brand new single, ‘My Hand in Yours’. Again imbued with the joy of being alive, the track is unapologetic in its status as a love song, not only dedicated to close family but inspired by them too. “My wife once told me about an exercise where you close your eyes and let someone lead you down the street to understand what it’s like to be blind,” as Tomlinson explains. “We lived on Amhurst Road, across from Hackney Central, and tried it one Saturday on our way into town. You can picture that while listening for some added comedy. It struck me that often, that’s all we’re ever doing—following the path of a friend, a companion, someone we love. How in most ways, it’s the only path we ever need.”
The sound is every bit as bright and compassionate as this description suggests, hardly ornate in its arrangement and all the more authentic for it. Jacken Elswyth (who you might know as part of Shovel Dance Collective) adds banjo to lift the song’s closing section, and in tandem with field recordings of birdsong, only furthers the gentle sensitivity at its heart. “My hand in yours / Is a path that I can follow,” as the refrain goes. “Your voice in my head / So I don’t get lost and / My hand in yours.”
Like the title track before it, ‘My Hand In Yours’ comes complete with a visual essay by Andrea Zvadova, which you can watch below:
Die To Wake Up From A Dream is out on the 11th July via PRAH Recordings and you can pre-order it via the MF Tomlinson Bandcamp page.
