Tommy

Tommy is an extended play by South London musician Klein, released on 29 September 2017. It is her debut release on Kode9's electronic label Hyperdub. It received acclaim from professional critics. It was named the third best release of 2017 by The Wire. Background Tommy is Klein's Hyperdub label debut after she self-released two projects in 2016. It was primarily recorded in Klein's room in South London with the exception of "Prologue", which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The album's digital cover was photographed by Hannah Diamond. Klein described the titular name as "symbolism for a person who is really going through a lot of shit," inspired primarily by Love & Hip Hop cast member Tommie Lee. "Everlong" references the Foo Fighters' song of the same name. One inspiration for the project came from a dream in which R&B singer Brandy advised Klein to record with "less echoes." Composition Tommy, typical of Klein's self-produced and uniquely developed style, was created with the audio editor Audacity as well as Ableton Live for songwriting and sequencing, incorporating sonic artifacts, looping, and melodies formed through pitchshifting that often use seventh chords. Multiple songs have structures that build up and crescendo into droning, often industrial-sounding noise formed out of overly distorted loops. As well as this, "Runs Reprise", "Everlong" and "B2k" gradually make use of cut up and sped up Amen breaks. On "B2k", named for the R&B group, Klein used synth pads which 'felt like [they] could be part of that era', but the song changed as she 'made it live and was a bit waved' on her sequencer; the song is resequenced out of what she recorded.