Tenfold. & ZM present:
The Brightest Light Tour | Album Tour 2020
Thomas Oliver: Photo credit: Lena Thiemann
The celebrated Kiwi singer-songwriter and 2016 APRA Silver Scroll award winner returns to New Zealand with a stunning
run of dates celebrating The Brightest Light album release!
After hugely successful shows in Amsterdam and London Thomas Oliver had the European leg of the 2020 album release tour
cut short by Covid 19, when Berlin went into lockdown on the night of the scheduled show.
"We can’t wait to get back on the road and back on the stage after having to come home from our European tour halfway
through. And so many beautiful New Zealand venues to play in, too!" - Thomas Oliver
“One of New Zealand’s most talented musicians.” - Ambient
Light
“One of New Zealand’s best musicians.” - Pip Squeaks Music
05/09 Queenstown - Mardi Gras (sold out)
18/09 Ohakune - Hot Lava
19/09 Ohakune - Mardi Gras (sold out)
26/09 New Plymouth - Butler's Reef
02/10 Christchurch - The Piano
09/10 Tauranga - Totara Street
10/10 Auckland - Hyundai Marine Centre
15/10 Hawkes Bay - Opera House
16/10 Nelson - Theatre Royal
17/10 Wellington - Opera House
Tickets on sale 7pm Wednesday July 22nd from www.ticketfairy.co.nz
___
About Thomas Oliver:
Thomas Oliver represents the openness of the mind and the heart, both as a musician and as a human. He touches people's
lives in all corners of the globe as he draws a connection between various forms of music that could otherwise be
considered polar opposites, and he invites people into an artistic perspective which is entirely unique. His warm
demeanour and story-telling on stage are as much a part of his musical identity as his unmistakable falsetto-singing
range or his world-renowned touch on the lap-slide guitar, or his celebrated vocal contributions to the genre of Drum & Bass music (for which he was recently a finalist for the Best Vocalist Award at the Drum & Bass Arena Awards). Thomas Oliver is the epitome of the term, “one-of-a-kind”.
Produced in Berlin and released in March 2020 the full-length album The Brightest Light is a colourful and dynamic journey through Soul, Roots, RnB and Folk, and Oliver's distinctive perspective on the world
around him. The first single, Bulgarian Mountains (released in October 19), has captured the hearts of many, including
the millions of Bulgarians who have seen any of the numerous pieces across the biggest television stations in the
country, telling Thomas's story and the story behind the song, inspired by a chance meeting with a Bulgarian girl in
Amsterdam named Martina.
First and foremost, Thomas Oliver is a singer-songwriter, and for his songwriting he was awarded the most prestigious
songwriting award in his home country of New Zealand (the APRA Silver Scroll Award – Song Of The Year) in 2016, for his
hit, If I Move To Mars, from his last studio album titled Floating In The Darkness, which debuted at #6 on the Official
New Zealand Music Charts.
About The Brightest Light:
I wanted to write music that felt new to both me and my fans, and I wanted to be inspired by a crazy environment and a
new life. So I moved to Berlin, Germany, and set up a studio soon after completing a 19-date European tour. Berlin is
unconventional, colourful, and sometimes challenging, which is what made it the perfect place to base myself while I
wrote this music. I started writing songs as soon as I touched down; I couldn't help it. I was listening to a lot of
Gary Clark Jnr, Son Little and Amos Lee at the time, and those shades are definitely evident throughout. I was also
meeting people, checking out live music, and immersing myself in the mellow madness that is Berlin. For me, having a
studio of my own is vital to the creation of an album, because I love to dive deep into the songs and the productions,
and explore the dark corners of them all in the small hours of the night. I love to know that I left no stone unturned.
'The Brightest Light' is the result of eight months of diving deep into my musical mind, and exploring my production
abilities. Because it is self-produced and self-mixed, I believe it carries a very personal and intimate touch which I
find myself drawn to in others' music. I love all sorts of music, but I have a special love for when I can hear a
person's mind in the music, rather than a team of people's minds. James Blake, for example; his music sounds like the
complexities of one man's mind, and I find that compelling.
The irony of moving to Berlin to make this record is that it doesn't really sound like Berlin at all. You can find
anything you want in Berlin, of course, but when I think of Berlin music, I think Alternative Indie Electronic, or
Techno, or Metal. But 'The Brightest Light' sounds to me like a combination of Soul, Roots, Folk and Pop, but it
certainly carries some of the energy and diversity of Berlin. I also wrote some of this record in Amsterdam, or inspired
by encounters in Amsterdam.
This is a singer-songwriter record, but it goes to places that most singer-songwriter records don't go. I'm very proud
of it; the writing, the playing, the production and the mixing. I'm very happy it is out in the world.