TOM AND HIS COMPUTER by Morten Germund

Future Ruins: Track by Track

Two years in the making, Future Ruins, TOM And His Computer’s debut album, is now out on Trentemøller’s In My Room label. As a 20 year veteran of the Copenhagen music scene, Thomas Bertelsen has been releasing music under the sobriquet of TOM And His Computer for five years, merging the newest technologies with the old, while squeezing fresh sounds out of equipment that’s not only obsolete, sometimes it’s barely functioning at all. As a result, Future Ruins displays many treasures and traits along its arc when listened to in its entirety, either on vinyl, download, or stream. 

For In My Room, TOM shares some background info on each track from his beautiful album.

Cover photo by Morten Germund.

 

Revox A77 Tape Recorder

A77 

The first track on the album. The track was originally made for a short scene in a Danish documentary film. I later replaced some of the synths and recorded the synths pads on my Revox Tape Recorder to get tape saturation, and then recorded it back to my computer. The title comes from the name of the Revox Tape Recorder model, which is the model A77.  

Lovers and Gasoline (feat. Roxy Jules)

The track first started out as sort of a simple kraut rock instrumental track. We later recorded Roxy Jules vocals and added live bass, synths, and guitars. 

Feathers (feat. Roxy Jules)

One of my favourite tracks on the album. I really like the rather chaotic synths and guitars on the track, the simple lyrics and the vocals that are being repeated. In the very last phase we added live drums by 2nd Blood’s Silas Tinglef, and it sort glued the whole track together. 

Waterfronts

I made this track one night on my laptop computer at home after listening to the latest Allah Las album. It ended up sounding no way near them, but the inspiration came from listening to their music. It happens quite often that I hear music thats triggers an idea and the end result ends up being no way close to what inspired you in the first place. Basically I wanted to make an instrumental track with a steady cool pace. 

Our Man In Toronto

The idea for this track came from an old techno demo that I made back in 2010. I like the melodic feel and the synths in the track, but I wanted to slow the tempo down, eliminate the usual 4/4 kick drum and give the track a more haunting feel (and preferably something that couldn’t be labeled as being a  specific kind of electronica). 

Future Ruins (feat. Roxy Jules)

The first track I finished for the album. I used this track as a guideline for the overall feel and sound of the rest of the album. 

Puzzle (feat. Roxy Jules)

This track has a driving psych rock feel to it while the vocals are a bit naive sounding and the lyrics are open for interpretation - which I really like. My absolute favourite track on the album. Some tracks just feel naturally and almost produce themselves. This was one of those tracks.  

Computer Solidarity

This was originally an ambient track, however, I felt it needed something else than just playful random notes so I sampled Roxy Jules voice and made a little theme out of it. I then added a very slow and deep kick drum along with a few guitars to give something extra. 

Fabel

A rather quirky synth waltz. I like the optimistic, rather childish melodic in the track, while the overall feel is more serious. I made the track shortly after listing to the Rodelius’s “Selbstportrait I” album from 1979. 

Disbelief In A Postmodern World“Dark World" guitar pedal from Chase Bliss Audio

This track was originally made as an intro for my live show, starting with long processed violins and drones, but I got quickly bored with the drones and added a guitar theme that I somehow think has an ethnic feel to it. Later I added a deep kick drum and some snares processed through the “Dark World" guitar pedal from Chase Bliss Audio, along with the dystopian synths in the end.