Take Me Out EP - Thoughts

I’m not going to say it’s like rolling in melted butter on the ancient plains in the late afternoon or some stupid shit because I fucking hate stuff like that, it just sounds like drug addled drivel to me (and if you think me rude for saying so, you have every right to be offended, but there you have it). Rather than vague reactionary impressions, I prefer mulling things over and offering up some kind of response or critique.

So, I will say that this EP demonstrates some major artistic growth and a super fun phase of sound in Milsom’s artistry!

I tweeted most of my thoughts already (@karlita007) but I’m reposting them here in greater detail.

Let’s Begin Again
This is the perfect opener, the way the drone comes in and that sick beat is laid over the top… *mua* Perfection. I wish we got more trumpet though! I can imagine this song as an amazing concert opener because of the way it builds and then bursts.

It’s my favorite song on the EP, to be honest, which apparently puts me in the minority. I do not understand this. What’s not to love? The lyrics are relatable, delightfully Lennon/McCartney-esque, and he chose to say “boy” instead of “girl,” which I think is brave and honest and neat. The outro is so fantastically frantic and sixties-inspired. I love this song.

Humans
The seamless transition from track 1 to track 2 is heavenly, it just shifts right into the beautiful string picking. His voice is light and the lyrics nimble—he’s always had a great vocabulary and knows how to use it.

The concept is fascinating, looking at humanity as objectively as possible while understanding that simply being human limits our ability to do so. There’s one downward chord change in particular, near the end, that just kills me, it’s so perfect. The last bit repeats a lot (too much, I think), but that’s one girl’s opinion.

A Face for Memories
The instrumentation is powerful, sharp guitar jabs driving the song forward with a groovy bass line. I’ll be honest, the promo video for this song cinched it for me. It was such an intimate view, and hearing the artist explain his intentions with the song a little bit made it that much more meaningful. It’s raw with a little angst, and a little something sexual.

You might notice that this EP is a lot more introspective than Milsom’s normal MO—he usually sings about impersonal concepts, imaginative experiments, or fictional scenarios. Not always, mind you, but often. This EP, on the other hand, is all about personal pronouns and reflections on the self in relation to others & species. “Me” and “let’s” and “humans” and whatnot. I like this revealing, bruisingly honest approach. It’s all the more enjoyable and valuable because it’s a rare glimpse, if that makes sense.

And that Muslim-esque “ti-i-ime” fucking knocks you out of nowhere when you hear it the first time, Jesus. It’s these kinds of “treats” that sets Milsom tunes apart from bland contemporaries and makes his music unlike anyone else’s (and subsequently, hard to categorize). Unique and distinctive, with hints of influence from hundreds of sources.

Take Me Out
As a song, I enjoy Take Me Out. It’s heavy and breezy at the same time, airy psych pop anchored in industrial beats. I like the vocal range Milsom uses here, especially the upper range. He should use it more often! But this song didn’t captivate me the way it has most of my fandom peers, unfortunately. I chalk it up to personal preference, because the song is clearly masterfully done.

Same goes for the video. LSD-trippy, stroke-inducing flashes of random imagery just isn’t my bag. I feel the concept’s been done, but Milsom did bring his own flair to it with a bit of animation and other unique touches. It was worth a watch, to me, but nothing more. As the title track, though, the EP would feel incomplete without it. It’s an appropriate capstone for what this album “feels” like.

At the end of the four tracks, I was left wondering: Where’s “All of Me”? Before the EP was released, I had “Take Me Out” and “All of Me” sorted in iTunes under the album name “Pre-Organs” (lol). I was expecting to see it in the track listing, but alas. I wonder why? Perhaps it was just a one-off and didn’t match Milsom’s idea of what ties the EP together, but I feel it suits the musicality and feel of the other songs very well. So I made a playlist that includes it as the fifth song. Just for my own listening pleasure.

TL;DR version
“Take Me Out” by Tom Milsom is the next great EP from an evolving artist, and it’s well worth the couple of bucks he’s asking for it. Give it a listen, mull it over, and let summer wash over you with waves of varying intensity.

If this is the prelude to Organs, I can only imagine what wonders are in store.

Just thinkin bout stuff

Tom’s latest videos make me uneasy, like everyone says they are so happy after watching them but it’s having the opposite effect on me, because there’s a point where you can become so blindly euphoric that you tune everything real out and forget that the world isn’t all sunshine and roses you know

I mean feeling happy is great, and by all means enjoy the feeling while it lasts but at the same time you’ve gotta understand this is not a sustainable feeling or even the feeling you should most aspire to

So when I read something like “Life can be so effortlessly great if you just love everyone! Why… why would you be angry about a thing” I get a little leery. Sadness and anger are natural too, and this tweet came from someone who has expressed his own negative feelings in the past via videos and social media.

I’m not going to go into the ebb and flow of mood disorders because his moods are not my business, but having a disorder myself I can say that intense ups and downs are par for the course, but what goes up… well you know

Enjoy a feeling for what it is but don’t set it up as the be all, end all—that’s all I’m saying