Billy Nomates shares a new track “vertigo”, from her album, CACTI, out this Friday 13 January 2023 via Invada Records

Billy Nomates shares a new track, “vertigo” – listen here / watch visualiser here
The final track to be shared before the release of her second album, CACTI, out this Friday 13 January 2023 via Invada Records – pre-order / pre-save it here
UK tour in April 2023 with a London show at The Kentish Town Forum on 27th April

Photo credit: Eddie Whelan

shaping up to be the most exciting British solo artist since PJ Harvey” – Uncut: 9/10 

Billy Nomates, the project of the Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, today shares a new track, “vertigo”. Described by MOJO in their 4* lead review as “finding itself on an unexpected precipice” and Uncut in their 9/10 review as “sounding uncannily like a post-punk Kim Carnes”, “vertigo” is the final track to be shared prior to the release of her much anticipated second studio album, CACTI, out this Friday 13 January 2023 via Invada Records. 

The track follows the release of three BBC Radio 6 Music A-listed singles including the gentle, 80s-influenced, synth-pop bop blue bones which was a celebration of life, the spiky, synth-powered spite, and balance is gone, which charted Tor’s attempts to find purpose, as well as “saboteur forcefield”, on which Tor lays bare her propensity for self-sabotage.

Speaking about “vertigo”, Tor offers: “i think vertigo scratches around the soul crushing apathy you can feel for achieving or feeling life’s big things…

Listen to “vertigo” here and watch the visualiser below:

Recorded at her flat and at Invada StudiosCACTI (pre-order and pre-save here), 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 PopFlorence 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 songwriting 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.

Following a UK tour late last year with most dates sold outBilly Nomates will next be on the road in the UK and Europe in March and April 2023, with a show in her hometown of Bristol at Marble Factory on 29th April and her biggest headline show to date at London’s Kentish Town Forum on 27th April 2023. Tickets are available here and full live dates are as listed below.

14/3/23 – Grand Mix, Lille, France
15/3/23 – Petit Bain, Paris, France
16/3/23 – L’astrolabe, Orleans, France
17/3/23 – Rockschool Barbey, Bordeaux, France
20/3/23 – El Sol, Madrid, Spain
22/3/23 – La Nau, Barcelona, Spain
24/3/23 – Le Périscope, Lyon, France
25/3/23 – Covo Club, Bologna, Italy
27/3/23 – Magnolia, Milan, Italy
28/3/23 – Bogen F, Zurich, Switzerland
29/3/23 – Milla, Munich, Germany
31/3/23 Badehaus, Berlin, Germany
1/4/23 – Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2/4/23 – Molotow, Hamburg, Germany
4/4/23 – Blueshell, Cologne, Germany
5/4/23 – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands
6/4/23 – Botanique Orangerie, Brussels, Belgium
17/4/23 – Tramshed, Cardiff
19/4/23 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
20/4/23 – New Century Hall, Manchester
21/4/23 – Stylus, Leeds
22/4/23 – St Lukes, Glasgow
24/4/23 – Boiler Shop, Newcastle
25/4/23 – Institute 1, Birmingham
27/4/23 – Kentish Town Forum, London
28/4/23 – Chalk, Brighton
29/4/23 – Marble Factory, Bristol

CACTI album art
CACTI album art

CACTI

13 January 2023 

Available as Ltd LP / LP / CD / Digital via Invada Records 

Pre-order/ pre-save here

Tracklist:

balance is gone

black curtains in the bag

blue bones (deathwish)

CACTI

saboteur forcefield

roundabout sadness

spite

fawner

same gun

vertigo

apathy is wild

blackout signal


PRESS QUOTES:

CACTI is relentless, laser-focussed and irresistible […] she’s only heading higher, shaping up to be the most exciting British solo artist since PJ Harvey” – Uncut: 9/10 

A classic album as diverse as it is potent […] Another superb record” – NARC: 5*

it feels like exactly the right place for Billy Nomates” – MOJO: 4*

an excellent return […] an intoxicating collection” – Record Collector 

Tor Maries’ follow-up to her acclaimed eponymous debut as Billy Nomates has been trailed by a succession of great singles, the sound of which has ranged from electronic to growling pop-punk, their eclecticism held together by the sharpness of her writing and the power of her voice” – The Guardian, albums to look out for in 2023

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