Ambient-electronic producer Tom Ashbrook has shared the video for his single ‘Too Soon’ via The Other Songs. The track is lifted from his upcoming Sines EP, and was mastered by Mike Cave (Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, The Charlatans) and mixed by Mike Halls (Clean Cut Kid). Ashbrook has toured extensively throughout his life and has shared the stage with Simply Red’s Mick Hucknell at the Royal Albert Hall, played alongside Jools Holland as a session musician, and composed for the prestigious Matthew Bourne Dance Company. In addition, he worked alongside Sir Paul McCartney and 6ix Toys composing the anthem for Liverpool’s 2008 award as European Capital of Culture city and toured with well known Pink Floyd Tribute band, Brit Floyd.
Originally hailing from Ilkley, Yorkshire, Ashbrook attended the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and stayed on to make Liverpool his home. Both he and his sister are classically trained pianists, encouraged to immerse themselves in the arts when their parents bought them their first piano. Ashbrook soon discovered a love of improvising, writing and transcribing classical works rather than merely reading the music.
Inspired by the greats such as John Williams, Pat Metheny, and Mike Oldfield, his love for synthesisers and experimentations with recording have shaped his own signature sound. Drawing parallels to the work of Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm , Ashbrook has always had a gift for drawing out emotions and meanings through melodies.
The video is a collage of beautiful natural scenery – forests, waterfalls, trees. The cinematography flows seamlessly with the pensive piano passage, with a strong emphasis on water. “The tape recording and fluttering nature of the piano is to imitate the beauty of water and I suppose how it makes up so much of us. At the same time, it can also tragically take lives” says Ashbrook.
However, it soon becomes apparent that all is not what it seems, and the viewer is required to reassess the visuals and seek their own conclusions to the deeper meaning behind them.
Ashbrook explains: “We want to keep a mystery about the video, and I want it to be completely open to interpretation by the viewer.”
Tom Ashbrook – Too Soon Video
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