Billy Nomates Shares New Single 'spite'

Billy Nomates, the project of the Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, today shares a new track and video, "spite", with an accompanying video directed by nwspk.

The spiky, synth-powered single's refrain, "Don't you act like I ain't the fing man", serves as both a reproach to anyone underestimating her, and as a personal pep talk. As she explains, "How are you going to deal with anything if you don't have that self-belief?" The track is another taste from her much anticipated second studio album, CACTI, set for release on January 13th, 2023 via Invada Records.

The track follows the release of "saboteur forcefield", on which Tor lays bare her propensity for self-sabotage, an admission she hopes could be the first step towards unlearning some of her destructive patterns. It also follows two BBC Radio 6 Music A-Listed singles; "blue bones", a gentle, '80s-influenced, synth-pop bop which was a celebration of life, featuring the refrain, "Death don't turn me on like it used to", and "balance is gone", which charted Tor's attempts to find purpose.

Clash said the following of "balance is gone", "the superbly minimalist guitar solo is worthy of New Order, while the lyric - "I just go round and round" - has a joyously infectious appeal", while The Sunday Times described it as "a visceral song where the frustration expressed in the lyrics is reflected in a soundscape full of rough edges and conscious repetition".

The Observer called the track "an electro-pop blinder about the limits of self-care". The Sunday Times said "saboteur" was "a brooding song that slows the pace and deepens the despair" and The Evening Standard wrote "it dials up the melancholy [...] the music almost sounds as if The Cure have been reincarnated in Gen Z bedroom-pop form."

Billy Nomates plays a sold out London show at Village Underground tonight followed by a run of dates around the UK, with sold out shows in Norwich, Bristol and Falmouth. Another UK and European tour has been announced for April 2023, which includes a new show in her hometown of Bristol at Marble Factory on April 29th and her biggest headline show to date at London's Kentish Town Forum on April 27th, 2023. Tickets are available here and full live dates are as listed below. To catch a taste of what to expect from Billy Nomates live, watch her outstanding performance on Later... With Jools Holland.

Recorded at her flat and at Invada Studios, CACTI (pre-order and pre-save here), is a huge step up for the artist, who received widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous 2020 debut album, with heavy airplay across BBC Radio 6 Music and support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.

Though every bit as unrepentant as Billy Nomates' debut, CACTI comes from a much more exposed place and sees Tor further develop her instinctive, inventive songwriting and production. Unafraid to wade into the traumas of the past two years and the eerie sense of apathy that lingers, alongside heartache and more political themes, the 12-track collection openly confronts uncomfortable truths, as Tor puts it, "70-80% of being bold is about being vulnerable as hell."

Maries said: "Writing CACTI took just over a year. I wrote very intensely and then none at all. (This seems to be the way I work best). I picked up old drum machines, mapped out things in my kitchen with the same small micro keyboard I always use and then raided the cupboards and rooms at Invada Studios, to play and experiment with old synths, an upright piano, this weird organ thing. I hope everyone finds their own narrative in CACTI. I think it's about surviving it all."

LIVE DATES

11/22/2022 - London, UK - Village Underground - SOLD OUT

11/23/2022 - Oxford, UK - The Bullingdon

11/24/2022 - Cambridge, UK - MASH

11/26/2022 - Norwich, UK - Norwich Arts Centre - SOLD OUT

11/27/2022 - Sheffield, UK - Leadmill

11/28/2022 - Stoke-on-Trent, UK - Sugarmill

11/29/2022 - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club

12/1/2022 - Bristol, UK - Trinity - SOLD OUT

12/3/2022 - Falmouth, UK - Cornish Bank - SOLD OUT

3/14/2023 - Lille, FR - Grand Mix

3/15/2023 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain

3/16/2023 - Orleans, FR - L'astrolabe

3/17/2023 - Bordeaux, FR - Rockschool Barbey

3/20/2023 - Madrid, ES - El Sol

3/22/2023 - Barcelona, ES - La Nau

3/24/2023 - Lyon, FR - Le Périscope

3/25/2023 - Bologna, IT - Covo Club

3/27/2023 -Milan, IT - Magnolia

3/28/2023 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F

3/29/2023 - Munich, DE - Milla

3/31/2023 - Berlin, DE - Badehaus

4/1/2-23 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen,

4/2/2023 - Hamburg, DE - Molotow

4/4/2023 - Cologne, DE - Blueshell

4/5/2023 - Amsterdam, NL - Tolhuistuin

4/6/2023 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Orangerie

4/17/2023 - Cardiff, UK - Tramshed

4/19/2023 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms

4/20/2023 - Manchester, UK - New Century Hall

4/21/2023 - Leeds, UK - Stylus

4/22/2023 - Glasgow, UK - St. Lukes

4/24/2023 - Newcastle, UK - Boiler Shop

4/25/2023 - Birmingham, UK - Institute 1

4/27/2023 - London, UK - Kentish Town Forum

4/28/2023 - Brighton, UK - Chalk

4/29/2023 - Bristol, UK - Marble Factory