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Lifeline

from Lamplighter by Tommy Ashby

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    13 track 12" black vinyl version of Tommy Ashby's debut album 'Lamplighter'.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Lamplighter via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Digital Track
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about

I’ve never lived close to the sea. Growing up in Scotland, my village was landlocked, surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains. During the pandemic I moved out of London onto the coast of Suffolk. A random choice you might think, but my girlfriend grew up here and its pull on her was strong. ‘Lifeline’ is about how one person can connect you to a place and make it mean something to you because it means something to them. Now I get so much happiness from the seabirds and seals swimming off the coast near our house. I genuinely used to find the sea scary and intimidating, probably due to many a stormy night spent in a tent with my parents on the wild west coast of Scotland. I didn’t realise it could be calming. It has a tranquility I haven’t found anywhere else.

The Lifeline Video was shot in Iceland by Andy Little. Iceland was incredible, around every corner was an amazing landscape, but it was the little details that made it so captivating. The abandoned fishing boats, the bright white pebbles glowing on the black beaches, the seabirds nesting in every crack and crevice of the cliffs.

I see the video as a snapshot of someone’s mental state. The video contrasts the bleak foreboding present with wistful memories. The fleeting glimpses of frantic underwater panic flash through the peaceful serenity of the scene. This encapsulates the meaning of the song, that other people can give a lifeline to pull us out of dark places and help keep our heads above water.

lyrics

I love her eyes, the fisherman’s daughter,
See fireflies and broken water,
Seabirds turning on the quay side,
She stands waiting on the tide.

When I’m running out,
She throws me a lifeline,
When I’m long gone,
She helps me back home,
When I fall in the gaps,
You promise me that,
I belong here,
I belong with you,
I belong here,
I belong,

The lighthouse is our alter
We stand side by side breathing salt air
We make promises to keep,
She all I can see.

When I’m running out,
She throws me a lifeline,
When I’m long gone,
She helps me back home,
When I fell in the gaps,
She promise me that,
I belong here,
I belong with you,
I belong here,
I belong.

When the ocean’s wild,
Salt, sea and stone,
You hold my eyes,
Call me home.

When I’m running out,
She throws me a lifeline,
When I’m long gone,
She helps me back home,
When I fell in the gaps,
She promise me that,
I belong here,
I belong with you,
I belong here,
I belong.

credits

from Lamplighter, released March 3, 2023
Written: Tommy Ashby
Produced and Mixed: Sam Okell
Mastered: Felix Davis

Drums: Toby Couling

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about

Tommy Ashby London, UK

Tommy Ashby’s background is a rather unusual one for a singer-songwriter. Awarded a PhD in the perception of sound in his early 20s, Tommy manages to blend a technical understanding of the way our brain processes sound with the indisputable pure creative energy of someone who grew up writing and playing music in the wilds of Scotland. ... more

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