Ask the DJ: Tom Forest – 10 Songs with Lyrics That Resonate & Fascinate

British singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tom Forest (aka Tom Gracefield), has just shared his latest track, ‘You Have A Father‘.

After a decade playing in bands, Forest has made his first solo album, Hope, with long-term collaborator Isabel Gracefield. Their songs about family, loss and belief were recorded over several months in his London flat and at RAK studios in London. ‘You Have A Father’ is a low-fi showcase for Tom’s fragile guitar and soulful vocal, dealing with the aftermath of loss, and only the second song to be made public before the arrival of forthcoming single ‘Summer’ in June.

“This is a playlist of songs with lyrics that resonate and fascinate,” says Forest. “They talk about the world we live in now, even if they were written years ago. They describe what it is to be a songwriter, to be in love, and to lose.”

1. Anais Mitchell – ‘Why We Build The Wall’

“Written 10 years ago, the boss of Hadestown puts his people to work building a wall to keep out ‘the enemy’. Anais Mitchell wrote a great think piece on this in the Huffington Post explaining how Trump invoked the same tried and tested folk archetypes that the song uses.”

2. Subtle – ‘Midas Gutz’

“Reality TV reaches its nightmare peak with the ‘Serious serious guts competition’, along with some nice digs at Vice. Doseone is a lyricist without rival.”

3. Tom Lehrer – ‘I Hold Your Hand In Mine’

“The ultimate love song.”

4. Sampha – ‘(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano’

“For the opening line, and how it captures the importance of home.”

5. Subtle – ‘Nomanisisland’

“More Adam Drucker– his flow is fast and he never goes where you expect, so close reading is rewarding- another great lyric about songwriting: “You have what sleeps inside you for your certain string of moments, and its un-plan thereafter only for your done and once sensitive skin…””

6. Benjamin Clementine – ‘St-Clementine-On-Tea-And-Croissants’

“It’s more about what he doesn’t say, the blanks that you fill with your own story.”

7. Mammal Club – ‘Toward You With Lust’

“This looping, repeating lyric starts with the line ‘Every word I speak is just a mispronunciation of your name’. Beautiful…”

8. Femme – ‘Fever Boy’

“For the wry second verse especially. And that video.”

9. The Cadbury Sisters – ‘Sleepless Nights’

“A graphic and simple lyric about untimely death.”

10. Faithless – ‘We Come 1’

“Another classic lyric from Maxi Jazz.”

Tom Forest’s debut album, Hope, is due out later this year.

You can listen to all Ask the DJ playlists on the FMS Magazine Spotify channel. Find Tom Forest’s playlist HERE.

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