BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - October 2019

hen celebrated UK art-rockers Wild
Beasts called it a day in February
2018, it didn’t signal an end to the
music, but instead a new beginning.
After 16 years, five acclaimed fulllengths
(including 2009’s Mercury
Prize-nominated Two Dancers), and
a farewell live album, the four members
of Wild Beasts parted on good
terms and went their separate ways.
“It was about as nice as break-ups
get,” admits Tom Fleming, the former
bassist/vocalist. “It was still a breakup
but inevitably we are still friends.
We’ve been through too much together.
We came from nowhere and
did this thing as a unit. There is far
too much water under the bridge for
that bond to break.”
This past May, Wild Beasts vocalist
Hayden Thorpe released his solo
debut album, Diviner, an album that
satiated fans eager to hear what came
next from the individual members.
And now comes One True Pairing,
the solo project of Fleming, whose
husky baritone complemented Thorpe’s
theatrical countertenor.
Fleming is fully aware of how both
Wild Beasts vocalists releasing solo
albums within months of each other
will garner comparisons. While each
album recalls their old band, One True
Pairing sounds quite different from Diviner.
Fleming believes the two records
will give fans a glimpse into how different
they were as songwriters.
“It’s going to become obvious who
did what in the band when you hear
the two records side by side,” Fleming
says. “Even I was surprised by
Hayden’s record. There were things I
recognized and things that surprised
me. I am aware that we are on the
same label, and the albums are out
in the same year, so inevitably people
will draw conclusions to that.”
Although he briefly considered
forming a new band, Fleming grew
impatient and decided to do it solo.
In addition, he chose not to use his
real name, which was his attempt
to avoid any singer-songwriter trappings.
Instead he christened the project
One True Pairing, a term “taken
ONE
TRUE
PAIRING
Tom Fleming rises from the ashes
of Wild Beasts with love songs
for American music
By CAM LINDSAY
JENNA FOXTON
from internet fan fiction, where you
write the perfect relationship you always
wished existed.”
“I really wanted to resist the ‘this
is a solo project from a guy that was
in a band,’ sort of feel,” he says. “I
wanted it to have a fresh impetus and
a reason to exist. I really like titles
and names, so I wanted one that I
could play with that gives me an opportunity
to change things about it.
The name is kind of sincere and kind
of ironic by turn, depending on what
I’m trying to get across.”
Written after the demise of Wild
Beasts, Fleming’s self-titled debut
album offers a his complete vision
as the lone songwriter, musician and
producer. Aside from working alongside
co-producer Ben Hillier (Depeche
Mode, Blur), Fleming wrote
and performed every note of the
album himself - a task that became
more daunting as he went along.
“It was both liberating and much
more of a challenge than working
with collaborators,” he admits.
“There is some terror that comes
from being able to do whatever you
want. I guess I can do anything and
call it a record, but what do I actually
want to write about? It was liberating,
but there was a second big learning
curve involved.”
One True Pairing is a self-described
“neo-heartland rock” album, paying
homage to the working-class music
of 80s period Bruce Springsteen,
Tom Petty and Don Henley. A collection
of songs about hope and despair
that integrate warm, bubbling synths
and charging guitar riffs, Fleming felt
a connection to a very specific American
kind of music, despite his English
roots.
“A lot of British music is a refraction
of American music,” he explains.
“There is a romanticism to the music.
I wanted it to be, in some ways,
a love song to that kind of music.
Those rich synth sounds and big
voices. A lot of the concerns in that
music, for example the loss of youth
and loss of positivity in ‘Boys of Summer,’
or Springsteen’s singing about
shit, small towns, was totally relatable
to the British experience. Once
you start getting into that you realize
that Joy Division and Public Image
had something similar to say about
[those themes]. You come up with
these connections, mostly at arm’s
length. You do understand it, but just
differently.” ,
One True Pairing is available now via
Domino Recording Co.
16 BEATROUTE OCTOBER 2019