Tommy Paxton-Beesley a.k.a. River Tiber has been quiet for most of 2018, aside from work on Charlotte Day Wilson's great project Stone Woman. Now, almost a year to the day after his last wonderful solo single "Patience" premiered with The FADER, River Tiber's back with a new one called "Deep End." It really is striking how much the proggy R&B sound has developed since R.T.'s 2016 debut Indigo, and that's really saying something considering how fresh that project still sounds. "Deep End" is a love song, both to a person and to isolation from a gross world, and a testament to the creative depths both can bring.
Over email, River Tiber told The FADER how he somehow managed to turn the shrieks of death machines into something beautiful. "When I was recording the vocals for this song there were these fighter jets from the CNE airshow flying overhead that were so loud. So I hit record and got an hour or so of these incredible sounds and used them as transitions - the sound of burning oil.
"Devo (Devon Little) took the cover photo when we were on tour living in a suspended reality for a few days. I never even knew he took it, I was in a dream. I was listening to the song and looking through old photos and it stood out. It was a moment in time, the beginning and the end. I had started writing the song that same month.”
Thumbnail photo by Devon Little