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Sep 03, 2019 By Christopher Roberts One True Pairing

One True Pairing (aka former Wild Beasts member Tom Fleming) is releasing his self-titled debut album under that name on September 20 via Domino. Now the British musician has shared another song from it, “Dawn At the Factory,” which, as its title suggests, is partly about factories in the UK. Listen below, followed by One True Pairing’s upcoming tour dates.

Fleming had this to say about the song in a press release: “2019’s satanic mills - zero hours, suicide nets, universal credit, cheap labor. The blue-white glow of the factories out on the gyratory and the plastic clad office blocks of the town center. I wanted to strip the romance back and look at what makes this country run, what makes it tick. The factories are hungry and it’s you they want. I wanted it to sound like the open road but there’s just too much barbed wire around it. The same every night. You do what you have to do. Knackered synths and a Floyd rose. Hope you enjoy it, OTP 2019 x”

Previously when the One True Pairing project was announced, Fleming shared a video for its first song, also titled “One True Pairing” (it was one of our Songs of the Week). Then when the album was announced he shared a video for its second single, “I’m Not Afraid” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week).

Fleming wrote and played everything on the album and then got Ben Hillier (Blur, Elbow, Doves) on board for mixing and production duties. A previous press release said Fleming was inspired by Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Depeche Mode, and Swans.

Fleming had this to say about the album in the previous press release: “I wanted to write about the real world, I didn’t want it to be an artistic, poised, tasteful record, it’s neo-heartland rock. One True Pairing is a name taken from internet fan fiction, where you write the perfect relationship you always wished existed. The idea of Prince Charming and Helpless Princess living happily after is no fun at all.”

The previous press release said “One True Pairing is an album shaped by class frustration and self-despair and there is a continuation of the exploration of masculinity that made Wild Beasts so unique. As well as being deeply personal, OTP has a wider political resonance.”

Fleming elaborated, commenting on the United Kingdom: “This country is going through a terrible moment and if you listen to the art nobody seems to give a shit.”

Of the song “One True Pairing,” Fleming had this to say in a previous press release: “I wanted to write about the real world. This is a song about hope, about getting beaten down and getting up again, more wide-eyed and full of wonder than you ever were before. It’s about doing wrong and then seeing things for what they really are. It’s a love song, or as close as I’ll ever want to get to one. The name of the whole project is something of a savage joke, but this time I mean it 100% sincerely. Wear the scars proudly, wave ‘em in the faces of people who don’t, will never understand what they mean. One True Pairing, 2019, hope you enjoy it.”

In 2017 Wild Beasts announced their breakup in a typed up statement, signed by the band and posted to Instagram. That was followed by a final EP, Punk Drunk and Trembling, three farewell concerts in February 2018, and a final album, February 2018’s live in the studio release Last Night All My Dreams Came True (which featured new interpretations of songs from across their catalogue). Fleming’s former Wild Beasts bandmate Hayden Thorpe recently released his debut solo album, Diviner, in May, also via Domino.

Read our 2018 interview with Hayden Thorpe about the breakup of Wild Beasts and the band’s legacy.

One True Pairing Tour Dates:

09-20 - Reeperbahn festival, Hamburg
09-23 - Pie & Vinyl, Southsea (matinee) *
09-23 - Banquet Records, Kingston *
09-24 - Rough Trade East, London
09-25 - Bear Tree, Sheffield *
09-26 - Jumbo, Leeds *
09-27 - Rough Trade, Nottingham
10-26 - Frannz, Club, Berlin
10-28 - Les Etoiles, Paris
10-29 - Rotonde, Brussels
10-30 - MTC, Cologne
10-31 - Paradiso, Amsterdam
11-01 - Crossing Border Festival, The Hague
11-04 - King Tuts, Glasgow
11-05 - YES, Manchester
11-06 - Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds
11-07 - The Louisiana, Bristol
11-08 - The Grand Social, Dublin
11-11 - The Victoria, London
11-18 - The Victoria, London

* = acoustic show

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