Tom Lark

Tom Lark

Tom Lark is a New Zealand recording project associated with Christchurch. It begins after the Christchurch earthquake, when the artist’s usual practice space and studio are demolished and work moves to a bedroom setting. The restriction becomes the basis for a new writing approach, and the project develops from there with a defective laptop and whatever instruments are available.

The Tom Lark EP is the result of that period. It combines sampled sounds, folk guitar, a plaintive vocal style and narrative songwriting. The release includes “All Night Long”, which is noted for its woozy feel and pop influence, “She Gone”, which moves from a folky 2/4 rhythm into electronic percussion and counter-melodies, and “Tea Sets”, a reverb-heavy ballad. The EP is first made available online through BandCamp and then receives airplay on Christchurch station RDU, enters Radio Active Wellington’s top 50 songs for 2011, peaks at number 3 in its December 2011 chart, and reaches number 2 on BFM in Auckland.

The project is also featured by the Australian website Frankie, and the EP attracts attention from the webzine Dingus, which describes it in terms of shifting from playful boldness to a more serious tone. The overall work presents Tom Lark as a bedroom-based project built from limited means and shaped by the aftermath of the earthquake.