Rapidly rising artist Billy Nomates, has just announced the release of her hotly anticipated second studio album, CACTI out on 13 January 2023 via Invada Records. The Bristol based singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, aka Tor Maries was inspired after attending a Sleaford Mods gig in Southampton by herself in 2019; not only did the music inspire her, but she also heard an audience member call her ‘Billy No Mates‘ which cemented and empowered her stage name winning her support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.
Billy Nomates has also just shared a hook laden new single, “balance is gone”, which tackles those struggles head on, charting her attempts to find purpose. Listen to the enthralling single here and watch the accompanying video, directed by NWSPK. and it will be in your head all day- in a good way.
Speaking of the song, Tor says: “It’s a lot to ‘ask, balance.’ Does anybody feel on kilter? Has anybody achieved all that harmony? I don’t think it’s a unique chase. And some days, it’s good to acknowledge it got up and left the room.”
She wrote the songs for her eponymous debut album in quick succession, leading to a 2020 release date. Like her forthcoming album, CACTI, the debut record was produced by Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and released through his label, lnvada, and was chosen by BBC 6Music’s Amy Lamé as Album of the Year 2020, after heavy airplay all year. Billy Nomates, could be said to reflect the inner monologues of the disenfranchised and disaffected millennials, previously saying that she was on a mission “to sock it to bearded indie cliques, old boys’ clubs in thrall to the Eagles, and overprivileged rich kids who think they represent us all.”
Though every bit as unrepentant as Billy Nomates’ debut, CACTI comes from a much more exposed place and sees Tor further develop her instinctive, inventive songwriting and production. Tor is not afraid to reflect on the traumas of the past two years and the haunting sense of apathy that lingers, alongside heartache and more political themes. The twelve-track collection openly confronts uncomfortable truths. Tor says:
“70-80% of being bold is about being vulnerable as hell….Writing CACTI took just over a year. I wrote very intensely and then none at all. (This seems to be the way I work best). I picked up old drum machines, mapped out things in my kitchen with the same small micro keyboard I always use and then raided the cupboards and rooms at Invada Studios, to play and experiment with old synths, an upright piano, this weird organ thing. I hope everyone finds their own narrative in CACTI. I think it’s about surviving it all.”
‘balance is gone‘ is the second track to be heard from CACTI, following the BBC Radio 6 Music A-Listed “blue bones”, a gentle, 80s-influenced, synth-pop bop which was a celebration of life, featuring the refrain, “Death don’t turn me on like it used to.”
Billy Nomates will be touring the UK in support of ‘balance is gone‘ this November and December kicking off at London’s Village Underground, with further dates to be announced.
Tickets are available here.
Billy Nomates Tour:
November
22 – London – Village Underground
23 – Oxford – The Bullingdon
24 – Cambridge – MASH
26 – Norwich – Norwich Arts Centre
27 – Sheffield – Leadmill
28 – Stoke-on-Trent – Sugarmill
29 – Liverpool – Arts Club
December
1 – Bristol – Trinity
3 – Falmouth – Cornish Bank
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