Who? Farm Hand is the alter ego of Mark Daman Thomas.
What? Pastoral psychedelia.
From where? Deepest Wales.
What’s the story? Mark has spent the last decade delivering the sonic visions of artists including Cate Le Bon, Flamingods, Sweet Baboo and H Hawkline as founder of Cardiff-based Shape Records.
He’s also found time to write and record in psych-pop four-piece Islet, alongside his wife Emma, plus JT and Alex Williams.
Now back in the country, working as a real life farm hand, Mark has begun exploring the stereoscopic ideas which gently percolate between his own ears.
His trippy electro-acoustic meanderings emerge from the sparse landscape he calls home, built on car boot beats, field recordings and clapped out organs. It’s a fulsome vibe, ripe with deep bass: the sound of Mark being restored to his factory settings, he says.
Forthcoming debut album, International Dreams, is almost spiritual in its delivery, with drawn out melodies and deep choral harmonies rubbing against bucolic electronics.
It augments his recent collaboration with artist Stefhan Caddick, which saw the pair create Noctule, a live performance and visual feast responding to the acoustics of a cave system in rural Wales. See the video below for a glimpse into its netherworldly weirdness.
With Shape Records now solely focused on Islet and Farm Hand creations for the foreseeable, and some live dates in the diary, Mark is clearly dusting himself down for his turn in the spotlight. And we can’t wait…
International Dreams lands on 3 November.
Sounds like? All the best bits of Panda Bear, Mike Cooper and US Girls.
Must hear? The new LP’s title track, International Dreams…
What? Pastoral psychedelia.
From where? Deepest Wales.
What’s the story? Mark has spent the last decade delivering the sonic visions of artists including Cate Le Bon, Flamingods, Sweet Baboo and H Hawkline as founder of Cardiff-based Shape Records.
He’s also found time to write and record in psych-pop four-piece Islet, alongside his wife Emma, plus JT and Alex Williams.
Now back in the country, working as a real life farm hand, Mark has begun exploring the stereoscopic ideas which gently percolate between his own ears.
His trippy electro-acoustic meanderings emerge from the sparse landscape he calls home, built on car boot beats, field recordings and clapped out organs. It’s a fulsome vibe, ripe with deep bass: the sound of Mark being restored to his factory settings, he says.
Forthcoming debut album, International Dreams, is almost spiritual in its delivery, with drawn out melodies and deep choral harmonies rubbing against bucolic electronics.
It augments his recent collaboration with artist Stefhan Caddick, which saw the pair create Noctule, a live performance and visual feast responding to the acoustics of a cave system in rural Wales. See the video below for a glimpse into its netherworldly weirdness.
With Shape Records now solely focused on Islet and Farm Hand creations for the foreseeable, and some live dates in the diary, Mark is clearly dusting himself down for his turn in the spotlight. And we can’t wait…
International Dreams lands on 3 November.
Sounds like? All the best bits of Panda Bear, Mike Cooper and US Girls.
Must hear? The new LP’s title track, International Dreams…
Noctule from Peak/Copa on Vimeo.
Live dates
4 November - Spillers Records, Cardiff (album launch)
14 November - The Social, London (Huw Stephens Presents)
https://markdamanthomas.com/farm-hand/
