Tourist

Tourist is the name used by more than one act, including a London-based electronic musician and songwriter, an electronic/indie band from Cologne, a modern rock band from Vancouver, a rapper from Antwerp, a powerviolence band from San Diego, and a melodic hardcore band from Bucharest. The London act, William Phillips, begins under the name Little Loud, remixing artists such as Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and HEALTH before adopting Tourist in 2012. Under that name, he releases a self-titled EP, also known as Placid Acid, on Make Mine.

Phillips’ early Tourist material uses sunny, synthesizer-led melodies and slow tempos associated with chillwave, but later releases move toward a darker sound. The Tonight EP appears in 2013 on Monday and shifts toward U.K. garage and house, with chopped vocal samples and more urgent melodies. He follows this with remixes for Chvrches and Haim, and the Patterns EP on Disclosure’s Method Records in 2014. That release features guest vocals from Lianne La Havas and Will Heard, and includes the single “Together”.

Phillips also co-writes Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me”, which wins the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2015. He continues to release Tourist singles and works with Years & Years and Josef Salvat & Niia, as well as co-writing Låpsley’s “Hurt Me”. Tourist’s debut album, U, appears on Monday in 2016 and is inspired by the end of a four-year relationship. Later releases include the Tourist and Ardyn collaborative single “We Stayed Up All Night” in 2017, the singles “Hearts”, “Apollo” and “Someone Else” in 2018, and the full-lengths Everyday and Wild in 2019.