Thomas Gray Real Life Feeling

From mimicking drum sounds with their mouths and then processing the result to create a world of intricate, intimate sound; to recording a short EP's worth of work at the snail's pace of a minimum 12 months, the Sydney based duo Thomas Gray and Liam Ebbs approach their work with a fascinating blend of impulse and consideration. Sounds can be carefully sulptured, massaged, edited and reworked, only to be thrown at the window and replaced with a whole new set of material at a moment's notice. In 2022, the pair return with a new EP, their first for the Bedroom Suck Records label. Like many works of late, Real Life Feeling has been created against a backdrop of COVID-19 unsettlement and uncertainty. Gray & Ebbs speak of the stresses of being in this new environment, and using music as a release, an escape from the ever-crumbling world around them. In juxtaposition to the outside world, music for them became a safe and secure space to exist within, and so the compositions reflect this. Sound becomes an embrace, a warm and comforting blanket for both listener and composer. The five tracks on Real Life Feeling continue to explore the world that lies somewhere between organic and electronic, between natural sound and manufactured signal. Acoustic instruments make a notable appearance, as does a strong lead vocal in 'It's Alright'. Atmospheres and landscapes are dominant here as in their previous work; the music is evocative, nostalgic, inspirational. Somehow, these works feel both internal and external at the same time. Much like the blurred line between acoustic and electronic sounds, these five pieces somehow inspire introspection and at the same time an enormous optimism about the future, or simply a joy in celebrating the outside world. Real Life Feeling is an introspective process that seeks to come to terms with external forces beyond our control. It's a thing.