Billy Nomates, the project of the Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries releases her much anticipated second studio album, “Cacti” via Invada Records. Recorded at her flat and Invada Studios, “Cacti” is a huge step up for the artist, who received widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous 2020 debut album, with heavy airplay across BBC Radio 6 Music and support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.
Though every bit as unrepentant as Billy Nomates’ debut, “Cacti” comes from a much more exposed place and sees Tor further develop her instinctive, inventive song writing and production. Unafraid to wade into the traumas of the past two years and the eerie sense of apathy that lingers, alongside heartache and more political themes, the 12-track collection openly confronts uncomfortable truths, as Tor puts it, “70-80% of being bold is about being vulnerable as hell.”
Maries said: “Writing “Cacti “took just over a year. I wrote very intensely and then none at all. (This seems to be the way I work best). I picked up old drum machines, mapped out things in my kitchen with the same small micro keyboard I always use and then raided the cupboards and rooms at Invada Studios, to play and experiment with old synths, an upright piano, this weird organ thing. I hope everyone finds their own narrative in “Cacti”. I think it’s about surviving it all.”
Out now on Invada Records: Taken from the forthcoming album ‘CACTI’, out January 13th, 2023,
The Fat Angel Sings 