Tom Cooney is a name some might remember, a musician who’s been curiously absent from the scene for a decade. However some of the greatest things come with time, and this singer/songwriter is ready to reemerge in a big, big way.
Futureproof marks his return in magnificent, downplayed glory. It showcases Cooney’s devotion to the ‘less is more’ ideal; both the song itself and the clip marking a divine lesson in the effectiveness of sparsity.
It’s the title track of Cooney’s upcoming album due in April, recorded with Lawrence Greenwood (who you will know as Whitley). If the rest of the record holds up to our first taste, we’re in for an exquisite offering.
A masterwork of restraint and a monument to soft folk, Futureproof marks the perfect musical reentry of Brisbane’s Tom Cooney.
The huge majority of the song is occupied only by Cooney’s lullaby vocals, minimal guitar plucks and percussion so soft you can barely make it out.
The empty space in the track pulls you in like the vacuum of space, and there’s an inexplicable gravity centred on the vocals. Lyrically, Futureproof is wrought in soaring melancholia, and Cooney’s croon is the perfect sibling to that bittersweet facade.
At the crux of the song, a guitar swimming in more reverb than a cathedral hall cuts into the mix for an unspeakably effective solo. It lifts Futureproof beyond the realms of common folk balladry and into something far more unattainable.
Again though, Cooney struts his capabilities of restraint. The guitar fades after a mere half minute, gone as quickly as it arrived.
The stunning film clip accompaniment sees lead actress/co-producer Chloé Boreham and director/producer Tim Marshall undergo their third collaboration together.
Like the song, the clip explores deep themes through a deceptively simple veneer. While the entire take depicts two women dancing, subtexts like the complexity of love and the pain of relationship lurk beneath the aesthetic exterior.
Futureproof the album is due out int April 2017.
