Scottish singer-songwriter, Tommy Ashby has released his duet with Lydia Clowes, ‘Happy Just To Know’. It’s out via Wow & Flutter Records and is the first single from his new EP, ‘Lay Low’, which is out on 14th May. It’s an absolutely brilliant slice of life-affirming joy from start to finish and is that song you hear when Apple want something upbeat and folky for their latest product release. You know that song? Yes, that one.
You know from the first ‘woo hoo’s’ of the opening that this is going to be good and it absolutely delivers on its promise – actually it over delivers on its promise. It’s just a totally delightful, lovely, warm and full of heart indie-folk tune with a bouncing beat and fabulous intertwining vocals from Ashby and Clowes. The singers are two sides of the same developing love story and both are nervous about revealing how they feel but they needn’t be as both sing – “you make me happy when we’re together”. Ashby says:
“Happy Just To Know’ was written at the end of February 2020, I’d just moved in with my girlfriend and relocated to the Suffolk coast. Coming out of winter felt like a new beginning, but at the same time coronavirus was becoming pretty scary. I wanted to write a song about finding a true connection with someone and how that feeling evolves over time, I also wanted to draw reference to the changing of seasons along the way. The pandemic has made it apparent just how much we as humans value physical contact and interactions. Loneliness has been so prevalent and has made us re-evaluate all the things we took for granted. Since this is a song about the start of a relationship, I thought it would be interesting to get both points of view across on the vocals. It’s funny that everyone is nervous at the beginning of a relationship and we just don’t need to be.”
Ashby has a PhD in Psychoacoustics so knows how to use sound to affect the human brain. Clowes might not have a PhD but her stunning vocals are used to glorious effect and will absolutely affect any human brain that processes their amazing tone. Ashby has wanted to collaborate with Clowes for a long time – they have worked together as session musicians – and lockdown provided the impetus for it:
“We’ve been playing together as session musicians for years; I’ve never seen anyone make singing beautifully look so effortless. I’d been meaning to ask Lydia to collaborate for an age, but it had never quite worked out until lockdown stopped all session musicians in their tracks”.
New EP “Lay Low” is out on 14th May and all 5 tracks feature vocals from Clowes. If they are anything like this single, then it can’t come quickly enough.
You can find Tommy Ashby online here: Facebook | Instagram |Twitter | Website
