Tom Mitchell
Album: Ruthless Thing
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 5
Website: http://tommitchellmusic.weebly.com/about.html

Having been a sidesman for the likes of Duffy and John Madden, Bristol based singer/songwriter, Tom Mitchell, makes the move to the microphone in the middle with the release of his debut ep, "Ruthless Thing". In me, it provoked the immediate question, what took you so long? That's because I can't believe listening to the EP that that talent hasn't just been discovered, it feels like it's always been simmering there.

"Ruthless Thing" is not the recording of an artist taking tentative first steps, it's a highly accomplished performance that makes me wonder, on Tom's behalf, where would he be if he'd made the ruthless decision to look after number one a few years back. If that sounds harsh, it's not completely meant to, I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why and there's no point lamenting when you can really enjoy what actually is.

And there is a lot to enjoy. Tom Mitchell comes across as a poetry singer, an artist for which the sound and sentiment behind of the words are as or more important than the narrative, to capture the spirit, more important than capturing the place, I guess impressionistic is another good description.

The result is an EP that whilst being easy to also gives you plenty of layers to peel off and get under. With "Ruthless Thing", Tom Mitchell makes the move onto the watchlist and hopefully it'll flag up more notice soon.

Neil King