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Sep 18, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Over the years, New Jersey-born indie singer/songwriter Tom Barrett cut his teeth fronting several bands, most recently as part of the shoegaze trio Overlake. Following his time in Overlake, Barrett began releasing a series of solo LPs, which saw him eschewing rock textures for more intimate and understated indie folk arrangements. In 2022 he shared his third solo album, You Are and You’ve Always Been, before following with a handful of new singles last year, released as Barrett moved from Jersey City to Nashville.

Next month, Barrett is set to return with his latest album, Everywhere We Live, out on October 4th. The record finds Barrett in the midst of a transitional moment, with many of his reflective lyrical musings coming together during his move to Nashville. He has already shared the album’s first single, “Honest Eyes,” and today he’s back with the LP’s opener, “Two Places At Once,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Two Places At Once” is a simmering and contemplative introduction to the record, centering on a steady drum machine beat and finger-picked guitar tones. Meanwhile, Barrett’s crooned vocals rarely rise above a pillowy murmur. Rather than soaring above the instrumentation, Barrett sinks into the track’s meditative rhythms, letting the dreamy strings swirl around him in a decadent dance of melodies. In this airy expanse, Barrett’s lyrics explore themes of loneliness and alienation, exposing the aching wounds left as loved ones fall away from your daily life: “Drifting apart / Could I call on you somehow / No one can be / Two places at once / We are alone / On our own / Again.”

Barrett says of the track, “‘Two Places at Once’ began as a loop I created in GarageBand a few years ago. I listen to a lot of Kurt Vile, and it definitely has a KV feel with the drum machine and plucked acoustic. I couldn’t come up with any other parts for a long time, not until after we’d lived in Nashville for a few months. The loop was still swirling around in the back of my mind, though. I guess the experience of moving combined with the song’s sort of walking tempo just led to lyrics about leaving and feeling the distance between yourself and the ones you’ve left back home. The rest of it came along pretty quickly after that. I think subconsciously, this song was the bean that sprouted the rest of the songs on the record. The idea for it was conceived long before any of the other ones. It really sets the tone. I’d always thought it would make for a solid opening track.”

Check out the song below. Everywhere We Live is out October 4th via Mint 400 Records.