Of all of the issues that might’ve sabotaged the artistic course of for Tender Punch’s Rye Thomas, author’s block wasn’t certainly one of them. Phrases have at all times appeared to come back pretty simply for Thomas, as each a journalist and a musician embedded in Washington, D.C’s DYI underground. Seems Thomas had different main obstacles to cope with—specifically a mysterious sickness that knocked him on his ass with debilitating migraines for 5 years. Throughout that point, choosing up an instrument and turning on an amplifier have been out of the query, and he spent years sequestered at residence doing basically nothing.

However Thomas did have songs—loads of them. At any time when he might muster up the power, he set to work on what would develop into Tender Punch’s Above Water, out there September 15 on Unhealthy Buddy Data. When issues have been dangerous, he’d spend only a half hour at a time in his darkened bed room with a keyboard and a cassette recorder. Issues ultimately bought simpler as his well being took a constructive flip, and Thomas turned extra decided to show therapeutic into artwork.

With boyfriend Brendan Polmer’s assist, Thomas rigged his residence studio with throwback recording gear to realize the traditional sound he was searching for. Buddies pitched in with extra instrumentation. Songs that started as stripped-back pleas from a determined, debilitated soul at the moment are evocative, eclectic, absolutely fleshed-out indie-pop nuggets that think of everybody from the Beatles to Elliott Smith to Frank Ocean. Thomas had this to say about Above Water’s first single, “My Head,” and its video, which was directed by Jonathan Howard:

“Whether or not it’s migraines or my very own ideas, my head is usually a brutal and unpredictable place. Simply making an attempt to get by the day throughout an terrible headache or a bout of hysteria could be an absurd problem. I leaned into that absurdity with the music video. Unusual geometric figures and flaming tape machines crowd my residing state of affairs, whereas I try and rise up, brush my tooth, begin my day and have a tendency to my studio. Like every good rock ’n’ roll music video, it’s ridiculous. The visible antics escalate together with the music for a noisy-yet-satisfying conclusion.”

We’re proud to premiere the video for “My Head.”

—Hobart Rowland