Tom Baxter at The Glee Nottingham

One of the most distinguished song craftsmen of the 21st century is to make his long-awaited return. On 17 August, Tom Baxter will unveil his first official release in a decade, ‘The Other Side of Blue.’

It was in 2008 that Tom released ‘Skybound,’ the follow-up to his debut ‘Feather & Stone,’ which first alerted the world to his singular talent for absolutely believable, emotionally immersive composition.

Baxter made his name with such heart-stopping originals as ‘Better,’ ‘Almost There’ and ‘Day in Verona,’ and his songs have been covered by much-loved entertainers such as Dame Shirley Bassey. He’s admired by the likes of Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright, Gary Barlow and actor David Schwimmer

‘The Other Side of Blue’ is Baxter’s most searingly personal work to date. While other artists rush so readily to provide the personal information that feeds the beast of self-promotion, Tom has kept his counsel, determined to be defined only by his music. But it has been a tumultuous ten years. He married the longtime girlfriend for whom he wrote the Ivor Novello Award-nominated ‘Better,’ but then endured a divorce and, more recently, was happily remarried. Along the way, he lived in Devon, travelled to India, Los Angeles, Spain and then to Brazil, the place that inspired him to find the impetus to write again.

Baxter’s albums have always enveloped the listener with a delicious intensity, and so it is again on ‘The Other Side of Blue,’ which takes us from the heart wrenching title track and others such as ‘For Crying Out Loud,’ to the happier place that Tom now himself inhabits, expressed in the gentle optimism of ‘When I’m In Your Hands.’