With Come Closersinger and songwriter AURORA and Tom Rowlands (of the Chemical Brothers) open a new chapter under the name Tomora. Encounter.
Tomora : a collaborative project, born less from a strategy than from a shared instinct: that of getting together, in the studio, to “rediscover that feeling of making music with a friend”as Rowlands immediately admits. “It wasn’t the idea to make an album. It was just… fun. Like at school, when you make music during lunch break. »
From this spontaneity was born an organic, almost visceral record. AURORA continues and talks about a process “very primal, very human”a form of sensation hunting: “We knew what we were looking for, but we had to find the exact sound. It was like running around the studio screaming: “That’s it!” » A raw energy which irrigates the twelve tracks of the album, thought of as a continuous flow. “We thought a lot about how everything comes together”explains Rowlands. “You go from one world to another without really understanding how, but everything is connected. »
Benevolent companion
If Tomora sounds like the fusion of their universes, it is also buried in a space of its own, apart. “This world only exists when we are together”sums up AURORA. The name itself, discovered almost by chance as meaning “benevolent companion” in Japanese, crystallizes this idea of connection. “That’s exactly what we want to be for people. And that's who we are to each other. »
In this in-between, everyone reinvents themselves. AURORA explores new vocal textures, moving from pure singing to almost tribal experiments: “I felt different with each song, like a different woman. » Rowlands finds an unexpected freedom: “We give ourselves permission to try things that wouldn’t have a place elsewhere. We couldn't make this record alone. »
Result: an album that is both futuristic and ancestral, nourished by the physical presence of the two artists in the studio. “Everything was done together, in the same room”insists AURORA. “That can be lost today, with remote working. But for us, it was essential that it remained human. »
In a musical landscape often dictated by algorithms, Tomora thus claims a form of unpredictability. “We didn’t really control what we wrote”smiled Rowlands. A way of restoring to creation its living, moving, almost accidental character.
On stage, this freedom continues. “We improvise a lot, we react to the public”explains AURORA. “Sometimes we leave for a ride without warning. » A natural extension of the album, where each song constitutes a world in itself. “It depends on the day”she concludes. “The songs all have a very strong identity. » With Come Closer, Tomora does not seek common ground: he invents his own language. A space where instinct takes precedence, and where the connection between two artists and with the public, becomes central again.
You can also check out our interview with Tomora via our reader below:
