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ROLLING
STONE, December 2006
Tobias Cummings and The Long Way Home - Join The Dots
You can't take an alt.country record seriously
unless it has a snakeskin reference, but luckily Tobias
Cummings meets that quota on his debut album, Join the
Dots. After all, you know a songwriter is truly rootsy
when they can name a song "Sunny Disposition",
yet load it with enough heartbreak to gall Cupid. There
are tears aplenty on this Melbourne musician's set -
and some excellent songwriting too. Cummings' voice
sounds both sweetly hopeful and flattened out by past
disappointment, a vocal trait which pits him in the
good company of other dustbowl troubadours like Josh
Rouse, Mark Kozelek and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. With sorrowful
songs like "Folding In" and "Little Man",
it's no wonder Cummings sings of needing to borrow smiles
from billboard pictures. ****
- Lee Tran Lam, pg. 102,
MUSIC AUSTRALIA GUIDE,
December 2006
Tobias Cummings and The Long Way Home - Join The Dots
There's a rash of "sensitive"
male singer-songwriters around, but few better than
Melbourne's Tobias Cummings. His debut long-player is
a collection of simplicity and subtlety and sublime
songs. Sunny Disposition, with its driving beat and
infectious handclaps, should have been all over the
radio. But Tobias Cummings might be too smart for the
pop charts (one line here is: "Misanthropes and
loss of hope has led me to this wall"). This is
a world-class release. Fans of quality, contemporary
Australian songwriters such as Glenn Richards (Augie
March) and Paul Dempsey (Something for Kate) should
investigate. 8/10
- Jeff Jenkins.
NAKEDDWARF.COM.AU
Tobias Cummings and The Long Way Home - Join The Dots
Melbourne, you are a lucky city! I envy
your thriving music scene and the talent pool that can
foster the likes of Tobias Cummings. A brooder of an
album, Join The Dots is an exceptional realisation of
an Australian rock / country / folk hybrid that produces
a contemporary sound all its own.
The opening strains of Battleships are at once familiar
(suggesting The Waifs Highway One Twelve Hour Drive
or similar) and distinct. Like the best folk there is
a sense timelessness to the song in that it doesn’t
infer a particular time or place while engendering something
approaching deja-vu – the feeling that ‘I’ve heard this
song before and it’s a great song’. Cummings is a literary
songwriter with an exceptional vocabulary (when was
the last time you heard ‘misanthropes’ in a song lyric?)
that serves to reinforce the simplicity of his message.
Cummings’ voice impresses from the get go, effortlessly
shifting from intimate breathy rattle to pure and soaring
falsetto. Such is the flawlessness of Cumming’s vocals
that you could be forgiven for mistaking him for Coldplay’s
Chris Martin, a young Thom Yorke or even (briefly) Tim
Buckley. In particular the mid-album triptych of Folding
In, Little Man and Oh Joe! reinforces this view. This
should not suggest that Cumming’s is a cheap imitation
however. Instead Cummings manages to project the best
elements of Martin et al. and could stand proudly in
their presence.
The influence of producer Tim Whitten’s can be heard
in elements of the Go-Betweens and Art of Fighting sound
that creeps into the mixes. Though applied to somewhat
darker and severe effect, Too Right and Bright Ideas
both exhibit Whitten’s subtle (and sometimes not so
subtle) sonic signature. Whitten’s production is generally
understated though and contributes amply to the abundant
character of the record. Whitten seems to be a good
symbiont for Cummings wan musings, the tone and texture
of the record complimenting and supporting singer and
songs admirably.
This is not a record to put on while the suns out as
it is too easy become immersed in the gloomy quagmire
of Cumming’s writing. Instead, Join The Dots is an album
to buy and savour at the right occasion. Cummings is
a comforting companion for the hushed tones and comfortable
reminiscences of late night conversations among close
friends, or solitary evenings with one too many glasses
of good wine.
http://thedwarf.com.au/nd/albumreviews/join_the_dots_tobias_cummings
FASTERLOUDER.COM.AU
Tobias Cummings - You Incomplete Me
There's something indefinably special
about those records which get under your skin. They're
quiet, they're unassuming, quite often they're simple
- but they stick in your head for weeks and see you
raving to all your friends about how "you've got
to check out this great CD."
Tobias Cummings has been turning heads
of late - both in home town Melbourne, and nationally
- with his debut EP You Incomplete Me. Voted "CD
Of The Week" in various street press magazines,
he is also garnering a fair bit of hype for his gentle,
wonderful live shows. 'Well, why?, you ask.' Well, I'll
let you in on it.
The five-tracker of You Incomplete
Me - serving as a prelude to a forthcoming debut album,
and following the single release of Don't You Know?
- which features here, is the epitome of the slow-burning
record. It's a Sunday morning record, for when you are
feeling seedy, tired and hungry. The gentle acoustic
strumming of Cummings is compelling yet unassuming -
never reaching a point of fast hysteria, instead keeps
up a slow groove.
Opener Laid To Rest sets the scene
for the rest of the record. All lo-fi strumming (think
early Badly Drawn Boy) and lulling brush drumming. The
most remarkable thing about Cummings - and the thing
that makes him stand out from the pack labelled 'indie
singer-songwriter' - is his voice. The opening line
of "oh
my dear, why do you say such things? You know they hurt
me so" of Let Some Sunlight In is strikingly touching.
The gentle vocal tones of the two-minute Your Eyes,
where Cummings repeatedly sings "I am so tired,
I've been walking all my life" accompanied by scant
more than a bass guitar makes it one of the stand-out
tracks. But it has competition - Don't You Know? was
the obvious choice of single. The most musically upbeat
track, it swells and builds until the haunting keyboards
kick in, after which it retreats back into acoustic
land.
Closer My Brothers features more instrumentation
than the rest of the minimalist combined (the track
features a cello, tambourine and choir). Sixth, and
unlisted, track Where It Goes is a solo (save from noises
courtesy of Tim McGrath) lament from Cummings: "I'm
sorry that I'm wrong all the time, but I thought we'd
left this all behind." And with that, the 23 minute
release is over, and you want to press play again.
Tobias Cummings will not be a little
known artist for much longer. Whilst he doesn't possess
the same massive commercial radio appeal as Alex Lloyd
or Pete Murray, in a world where the John Butler Trio,
Eskimo Joe and Missy Higgins can be amongst the biggest
acts in Australia, 2005 will be a big year for Tobias
Cummings. Mark my words.
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/music/1660/
THE ELECTRIC NEWSPAPER
Tobias Cummings – You Incomplete Me (EP) – In-Fidelity
Rating: 81%
The biggest problem with being a roots-rockin’
singin’ songwriter at the moment is that there’s just
too damn many of them. And half of them are being labelled
incorrectly: just because you’ve got a battered acoustic
and can hum a tune don’t make you no roots-rocker.
So as it is for Tobias Cummings – already
he’s been labelled as the latest roots-rocker to emerge
in Australia. BORING! If you’re going to label someone,
at least have the dexterity to come up with something
a touch more original than that. It gives no indication
of the breadth of sound found on the You Incomplete
Me EP, from warm keys to slippery bass. Jack Johnson
this is not. Thank god.
Opener “Laid to Rest” and the similar
potential single “Don’t You Know” meander along with
the gentle warmth of a Wurlitzer behind them, with Tobias’
hushed tones front-and-centre. For someone so young,
he sure do sound world-weary. “Your Eyes” is sonically
fascinating, merging his voice and gentle guitar playing
with an minimal background noises provided by Tim McGrath.
Undoubtedly, it’s the 10-minute long
“My Brothers”, with it’s biblical references, that bears
most in common with Sydney-based brother-in-sound Old
Man River, or Ohad Rein. Like Old Man River’s debut
EP, You Incomplete Me finishes in epic style, aiming
above and beyond its station as a ‘mere roots-rocker’.
Andrew Weaver
http://www.geocities.com/weaverandrew/youincompleteme.html
RAOUL RECORDS, BEST RECORDS OF 2004
TOBIAS CUMMINGS You Incomplete Me (INFIDELITY)
We'd been hearing this kid around town for a few months,
each time thinking we should maybe approach him about
doing an album on Raoul. That's how good we think he
is. But our good friend Bruce Milne over at Infidelity
beat us to him, and now on hearing this EP (which has
just come out right on Christmas) we're kicking ourselves,
because this is really good stuff. Comparisons to British
folk-rock (read:Nick Drake) are apt, but we think it's
also strongly in the Aussie epic tradition of artists
like Charlie Marshall and Died Pretty.
The Raoul Bulletin, 11/2/05.
BEAT MAGAZINE 'ALBUM OF THE WEEK'
TOBIAS CUMMINGS
YOU INCOMPLETE ME (In-Fidelity)
Quite often, a record's presentation
and artwork will colour the experience of listening
to it. Here, on Melbourne singer/songwriter Tobias Cummings'
five-track EP, a bare outcrop of rocks and patterned
horizon of foliage appear on the cover before a stark
and encroaching blackness. There is no evidence of a
sky - of stars, a moon, clouds, or even a sense of open
space - only the total absence of colour and texture.
While listening to Cummings' gentle voice and acoustic
strumming, I can't help but feel the presence of this
blackness in between the notes, as if the entire record
could be defined as a series of perforations across
a continuous and tangible silence.
You Incomplete Me is the first
release from Cummings, loosely compared by his press
material to Will Oldham and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Unable
to debate these associations, I can instead offer a
string of adjectives which come to mind while listening
to the 23-minute record: sparse, acoustic, warm, relaxed,
intimate, melodic. Without a doubt, one of Cummings'
strongest qualitites is his voice - able to switch between
beautifully high notes and hushed, breathy lyrics without
strain.
Released as a single earlier this year,
the pronounced vocals, acoustic guitar and flourish
of organ in Don't You Know? have already received
some great acclaim. Most tracks are based upon a similar
foundation of short, simple guitar melodies, with occasional
support from pianos, organs and backing vocals. Your
Eyes is a dark variation on this them, as Cummings'
voice floats above a minimal, solitary bass guitar.
Suitably situated at the end of the record, My Brothers
builds upon such simplicity with a majestic chorus and
swelling refrain of backing vocals.
For a first release, You Incomplete
Me, is a remarkably confident, accomplished and
well polished record, though admittedly doesn't stray
too far from well-travelled singer/songwriter ground.
It may take more time for Tobias Cummings to truly distinguish
himself from such a crowded field, but he has plenty
of time, and this is a great start.
Andrew Ramadge, Beat Magazine, 28/12/04,
p. 53.
INPRESS, 'SINGLE OF THE WEEK'
TOBIAS CUMMINGS
YOU INCOMPLETE ME (In-Fidelity)
One of the great things about 'the
quiet time of the year' is that it allows for relatively
unassuming singles and EPs to rise to the top of the
pile and reveal themselves, unfettered by the flashy
press releases that usually clutter the market. That's
certainly not to say that Tobias Cummings' stunning
EP of songs would have drowned at any other time, rather
that it is a welcome visitor to the airwaves at this
time of year and the relative lull allows it to soak
up the attention so worthy of it. The five tracks are
all killer, but the particular highlights are the delightfully
plangent Laid to Rest and the stunning Don't
You Know and - ah, bugger it, they're all great.
Grab a copy and immerse yourself in it.
Clem Bastow, Inpress, 6/12/04, p. 22.
BEAT MAGAZINE
Tobias Cummings
The Empress
Tobias Cummings does not sit comfortably
with neat categorisations. When asked to indicate his
musical style, he offers with a wry smile “Ah…my favourite
question.” It seems relegation to one definitive genre
proves too static a description for the transience of
Cummings’ creative expression. Lucky for him, the alt.
Folk / rock / country / pop / acoustic performance last
Saturday night, which launched his debut EP, You Incomplete
Me, defied my usual tendency to make glib comparisons
with fellow singer / songwriters.
Playing for just over an hour with
his band The Long Way Home, Cummings filled the intimate
venue with poetic laments about being lost, finding
love and the uncertainty in-between. While this may
sound like typical Melburnian fare for a Saturday evening
at The Empress, the warmth of Cummings instrumentation
stood out as an alluring invitation to follow him in
his expressive journey.
After leading us through the lithe
melodic lines of his original works, Cummings performed
Beck’s song Jackass. Rather than diminish his proven
talent (as the performance of covers often does) Jackass
instead highlighted the merits of Cummings own song
writing. With greater interest and beauty, his songs
overshadow a comparatively derivative sound initiated
by internationally renowned Beck.
Despite experiencing some mixing difficulties,
The Long Way Home, who have accompanied Cummings for
about one year, provided solid support with drums, bass
and electric guitar. The addition of piano towards the
end of the set made a smooth entrance into the standard
instrumental mix and proved an effective tool for increasing
the intensity of sound in the final few songs.
Though having freshly arrived at the
business end of the music industry with You Incomplete
Me, Cummings presents a maturity that suggests he has
been writing music for more than just five years. In
one of his few solo acoustic offerings of the night,
he suitably seemed to feel older than his 25 years,
affirming with melancholic composure, “I have been walking
all my life.” But then, maybe not. Cummings’ meandering
lyrics prove as ambiguous as his stylistic genre and
hence, are open to personal interpretation.
Yet such complexity is not feigned
for the sake of being ‘you know… deep, man’. Rather,
his messages are subtle and textured enough to endow
his melodies with a timeless quality that seems so elusive
for many contemporary songsmiths. Perhaps his belief
that “you can get away with most things in this life,
but you must have a little bit of mystery,” is telling
of his secret to creating such enduring music.
Georgia Fox, Beat Magazine, 6/12/04,
p. 78.
BONE MACHINE
Tobias Cummings - Don't You Know?
(Independent)
5 bones
Occasionally (actually, read very rarely)
you come across an artist that impresses the hell out
of you. You know, musicians that can make you sit up
in your lazy-boy chair and really take a bit of notice.
I usually find band bios are full of crap and end up
giving me nothing... but I read them anyway. So it is
usually with great trepidation that I read an artist's
glowing bio as I push the play button and sit back to
listen.
Tobias starts off a little country-ish,
strumming a gorgeously toned acoustic guitar; but Don't
You Know quickly turns into the most beautiful, melodic
and lovable song I have heard in a long while. The opening
line, "Saw the sun rise this morning, bright yellow
orb came away from the sea" is simply wonderful
stuff.
His voice has a mellow, warm and welcoming
quality that invites you in, sits you down and comforts
you like an old friend. The quality of this man's vocals
and his talent for songwriting belie his tender age.
You shouldn't be writing material this good when you're
still in your early twenties. Bass notes that are smooth
as velvet and superb brushwork are the cherries sitting
on top of all the cream. Soft rushes over the snare
drum and minimal bass guitar compliment rather that
dominate the aural landscape that Cummings has crafted.
This is a credit to his production as well as his arrangement.
My only criticism with this release
is that it is too short! As soon as the song starts
it fades away. Oh well, there is always the repeat button.
I wanted to hear more of Tobias. Maybe it's the winter
blues setting in. The cold frosty mornings dampening
your skin down to the bone. Tobias' music warms your
insides and leaves you with such a tender feeling like
you've just had a gentle kiss or read an old love letter
from a time long since gone.
For once the bio was right! Tobias,
you are a songwriter. And a damn good one. This song
will remain on my playlist for a very long time. Buy
the EP You Incomplete Me before it sells out.
Brian O'Brien, Bone Machine
http://www.bonemachine.net/cdnrtobias.html copied 23/7/04
BEAT MAGAZINE
TOBIAS CUMMINGS
Don’t You Know? (Independent)
Beautifully simple. Simply beautiful.
The kind of stuff that would lull you to sleep with
a smile on your face, then fill your dreams with nothing
but sunshine, skipping through grassy fields and fairytale
lands made of chocolate and candy cane… Yes, that sweet.
That sweet, that simple and that beautiful.'
Neala Johnson, Beat Magazine, 17/3/04.
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