Description
Billy Nomates is the project of the Bristol-based songwriter,
producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries. Recorded at her
flat and at Invada Studios, CACTI, 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.”
