Tom Neilson offers up emotion-stirring orchestral beauty on latest single, 'Minefield'

Sunshine Coast artist Tom Neilson showcases seasoned songwriting on his third solo outing in latest single, the emotional ‘Minefield’. The new track is engaging composition that creates atmospheric sonic landscapes while maintaining a level of pop appeal.

Inspired by the sounds of Regina Spektor, the single was initially conceptualised during an experimental piano improvisation session. Departing significantly from Tom’s previous works, ‘Minefield’ creates a unique allure, with Tom describing the songwriting process as “a transformative creative journey”, comparing it to “falling deeper into wonderland”.

‘Minefield’ shifts and swells at its own pace, allowing the intensity, and vulnerability of Tom’s vocals to dictate the movements of the accompanying instrumentation. The piano channels the emotions with beautiful looseness, adding deep arpeggio to bolster the swelling strings and choral harmonies, but also knowing when to pare back, particularly when Tom’s voice begins to crack in the delicate moments of delivery. The added bonus of underlying, vocoder-ish harmonies in the sparser moments create a haunting effect, and in turn help to ensure ‘Minefield’ leaves no eye within distance, dry.

In the studio, the piano line and vocals for ‘Minefield’ were recorded concurrently without a click track, enabling producer and pianist Josh Beattie to adjust to the song's shifting tempo. During the recording, Neilson envisioned strings accompanying the melody, leading to the involvement of Sydney-based cellist, composer, and producer Gabriel Paris, who composed and recorded the song's four cello lines. Later, Edinburgh-based violinist, composer, and producer Adrian Leung added the final layers, skilfully incorporating violin and viola. The song was mixed by Josh Beattie and mastered by Paul Blakey.

Former front-man of Standby Empire and Queensland Music Award winner, Tom Neilson has completely reinvented himself - stepping away from an electronic sound into a sound more based in folk-pop tales of love. Having released 3 singles, Tom gears up towards the release of his debut EP which is set to come into the world on May 3!

‘Minefield’ is out now on all streaming platforms.