Second album by Tommy, who has been an inspiration to many through his thoughtful and provoking lyrics and music. He supported Donovan Frankenreiter and others recently.

Grown up fast, words come easy to Tommy Benefield.

But their origin is a mystery to the lead singer who describes the moment of inspiration as “tapping into a source of endless energy and love”. He sounds like a hippie, right? Not quite.

“My songs take about three minutes to write,” says Benefield. “The words pour out of me faster than my hands can write. At any point I can start rapping or singing cohesive rhyming verses and flows, often the lyrics are far more profound than anything I could consciously think up.”

Benefield is too complex to characterise. He was kicked out of home, school, and rehab before age 17. He grew up fast. By 22 he was a full-time councillor, all the while writing music. A few years on he’s working toward a masters degree in psychotherapy, opened shows for the likes of Fly My Pretties and Donovan Frankenreiter, and now he’s released his second studio album through Loop Recordings entitled Tomorrow I Might Go.

The album is beautiful. From the lucid instrumental of Children beneath which a playground of joyful children’s voices are heard, to the hidden anti-war track George that includes the lyrics “put down all the guns that shot your heart out”.

“I wrote this song [George] as an ode to all the anonymous, punks, gypsies, and activists that dedicate their lives to important social concerns and world issues and are met with irrelevance and ridicule,” Benefield says. “[It’s] for all those involved in the thankless task of asserting the far left swing of the pendulum of political human consciousness.”

Not all the songs are as hard hitting. Others float effortlessly - the antithesis of the bustling bypass-backed-up inner-city - and evoke Benefield’s simple life pleasures.

“I am a family man who enjoys spending time with friends. Talking and playing music by the fire, writing and walking.”

To escape the trappings of urban living, Tomorrow I Might Go - which was named after the bNet single Tommy received national recognition for - was recorded in the band’s make-shift recording studio at Bethell’s Beach, west of Auckland.

“It’s [the album title] a clue to the possibility that the band may be gone in the near future. It also eludes to the reality that I will be pursuing music overseas next year.”

Meanwhile Tomorrow I Might Go isn’t dissimilar to the group’s 2004 debut album 4000 Years.

“It is composed of two halves that differ not only in their musical genres but also in the content of their lyrics,” Benefield says. “The dance music on this album is more down beat, fused with dub and reggae, while the dance numbers on 4000 Years tended to be fast ska numbers.”

This album is stunning, let’s hope tomorrow never comes.

Dawn Tratt
February 2007