Thomas Powers is apologising for sounding like a grumpy old man. "The music industry doesn't go, 'Let's set up certain systems for this'; it just goes, "That's where the kids are. That's where the money is. Go there.' It's reactive." He passionately detests the chokehold TikTok has on the music industry.
At 36, he's far from geriatric, yet he's had what to some is a lifetime of achievement. The Naked and Famous, the band he formed in Auckland in 2007 with Alisa Xayalith, achieved a stardom many local musicians can only dream of. The indie electronica group took on monstrous Los Angeles with a tenacious spirit.
Their songs Young Blood and Punching in a Dream became hits. They had Spotify streaming numbers of more than 280 million and 120 million respectively, as well as 75 million YouTube views between them. These days, the band seems to have reverted to the original duo of Powers and Xayalith, who parted ways as a couple after the band's early 2010s run of success.
Powers' new solo album, A Tyrant Crying in Private, doesn't aim for The Naked and Famous's youthful euphoria. It's something slower, more careful, and cohesive. It has musical motifs that call back to one another. The work swims through a space between alternative and neoclassical. It's not without some catchy hooks but Powers says it felt decisively and indulgently him.
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