![]() “The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry,” Waters explained. The logo on his trench coat was not the swastika, but the crossed hammers seen in early videos for The Wall and in Parker’s film. German police are reported to have launched a criminal investigation into Waters after he appeared in a “Nazi-style” uniform at a concert in Berlin. But its critical meshing of rock superstardom with political megalomania was to a point. ![]() You wouldn’t call The Wall subtle (or good). One or two of the rock elite thought they might be strong enough and manly enough for the role. As the UK collapsed into a mire of inflation, corruption and labour unrest, a few among the worried rich pined for “a strong man”. There was quite a bit of this about in the 1970s. The nugget here worth extracting from The Wall is that “Pink” – played by Bob Geldof in Alan Parker’s wearisome film version – is pilloried as a proto-fascist in later stages of the narrative. Poor wee billionaires with their landing strips and their fish farms and their private islands. ![]() It remains a great irony that the one enormity not perpetrated by the rock star protagonist of that band’s wretched The Wall was a navel-gazing double-album addressing the stresses of mega-stardom. I never imagined I would be (in part) defending the man responsible for the most nauseating excesses in Pink Floyd’s century-long reign of gatefold pomposity. ![]() Thomas's Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth.The controversy surrounding Roger Waters reminds us how hard it is to judge a person’s words or actions without allowing existing suspicions to colour dispassionate assessment. While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas's past, the album's recording process made his communal vision a reality. "I consider nature to be my religion," he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas's desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. ![]() On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls "an album about love and nature and youth." The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist's back catalog. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. But knowing he couldn't simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas-who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont-set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. It's a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. ![]()
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