Gareth Thomas gives us a Wake Up Song
Gareth Thomas creates the morning anthem for sleepyheads everywhere with new single Wake Up, the second single from Gareth’s impending 2021 album, Bits.
Written for Gareth’s girlfriend to soften her exit out of slumber, it’s a wake-up song with a chiming start, replicating a subtle alarm….that quickly kicks in to a rousing hook that inspires you to spring out of bed and start the day.
Says Gareth of the song; “I bought a new toy, a Korg Minilogue synthesizer. This song fell out of it the following morning. All the synthesiser sounds; woozy bass, bendy chords, rhythmic patterns and echoes came from the Minilogue. When I realised the song had a mystical eastern quality, I detuned my acoustic guitar which made it sound like a sitar - and added that to the mix the following week.”
The creation of Wake Up has been a catalyst for collaboration, with Amelia Murray (Fazerdaze), Buzz Moller (Voom) and a chorus of rogue cicadas all lending a hand with the song writing. Amelia came up with the chanting verse idea and the violin melody at the end, Buzz helped with the bridge, and the freestyling of the cicada choir during recording added the finishing touch to the track. Further sonic surprises were created at Roundhead Studio with Simon Gooding at the desk. Here Gareth, Simon, Amelia and Rodney Fisher (Goodshirt) added a sing-along with hand claps and random percussion, alongside the practice of some audio alchemy, which turned Mahuia Bridgeman Cooper’s violin into a whole gamelan orchestra for the song’s outro.
Releasing with the single is the video, which bottles the morning battle with the alarm clock into a 3 minute journey. It was made by Gareth and Sith Douang Kham Chanh at Thievery Studio. Says Gareth; “We wanted it to feel like the alarm clock was singing to you. It gets more and more psychedelic as the song progresses. The grand finale is the sun coming up in the reflection of the clock face - and the clock turns into digital propellers spinning in the blue sky.”
Wake Up is out now through all digital streaming outlets.
