Thos Henley

You also have to beware stuff that appears on April Fool's day. I received an email earlier from a certain Tom Henley, in the guise of a press release for a certain Thos Henley. 2+2=5? Anyway, it included a Leona Lewis cover and no mention of a website or in fact, very much information at all. So I was obviously wary.



Thomas, or Thos, obviously knew what he was doing though. I was compelled to have a little dig about on the interweb for information. Turns out he is the former frontman of cult Southampton(?) band Rival Joustas, contemporaries of the Mystery Jets (who were/are fans of the band). Their sound can be easily compared to that of early Mystery Jets, with a bit of added electronica for good measure.

Thos left the band to go solo and is now doing a very different thing. The man himself likes to call it "folk-psych-pop music on eastern european instruments". Seeing as I don't even know what a balalaika or a bouzouki is, I can go along with that.

Forthcoming single 'Summer On The Thames' is a lovely slice of breezy folk pop, in much the same vein as Noah & The Whale. The real revelation, however, is his cover of 'Bleeding Love', the song with which Leona Lewis is now conquering America. The double tracking of his vocals with the stripped down setup gives the song a poignancy perhaps dampened by the manufactured nature of the original, before breaking in some beats to add texture.

While I'm not sure what's happening with the Joustas (although the implication is that they are continuing), Thos has a promising career ahead of him. If you're missing Jeremy Warmsley, I suggest you divert your attention to Thos for the time being, at least.

Rival Joustas - The Countess Of Hong Kong (Demo) [Yourfilehost download]
Rival Joustas - Clarity (Blamma! Blamma! Clear As Mud Remix) [Yourfilehost]

Both tracks available to download on the RJ MySpace also [link].

Thos Henley - Summer On The Thames [Yourfilehost]
Thos Henley - Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis Cover) [Yourfilehost]

'Bleeding Love' can be downloaded from Thos' MySpace [link], along with some other demos. 'Summer On The Thames' will be disappearing from this page very soon.