Pulverise — to completely destroy, to reduce to fine particles and to defeat utterly. The album was born from a very unadorned moment that Tim had while making breakfast one morning. One of the modes on an old blender was labeled “pulverise”. “It just looked and sounded so incredibly dramatic, over-the-top and so final”, Tim states. He goes on to say that “it’s kind of funny that we throw all these individually beautiful things inside this machine and then completely annihilate them in order to make something new. It’s an interesting concept, ‘destruction as a means to create and renew.’ Love can be very much like that at times”. So while the album deals with topics of love, longing and internal struggle – it in turns delves into the idea of what comes from all this destruction.
Tim wanted the album (10 tracks) to begin with loud heavy distortion and a ‘bang’ to give the idea of what that machine would sound like being turned on. As the album progresses things become a lot smoother, slower, and colourful, just like anything would be inside a blender. While on the surface this is a heartbreak album, it is important to note that there is joy to be found in the sadness and in the turmoil of losing the wrong person in order to find the right one. Again, something destroyed yet something created.
Pulverise highlights Tim’s strong and unique songwriting abilities as the record is written entirely by himself (bar track 4 which is co-written with Tim Ross). Produced by Ireland’s own talent Seán Behan, it is mixed by Grammy Award nominated Darren Heelis (Sam Smith/Calvin Harris) and mastered by Emerson Mancini (Grammy Award winning engineer to Lizzo, Paramore & Jon Batiste).
Tim had great early success with his breakout single ‘I Need To Know’ which got support from every major Irish radio station – reaching #26 in the Irish Single Official charts.
Today his songs have amassed +10 million streams across streaming platforms. Since becoming an independent artist he was swept away to the studio in LA with some of the music industry’s biggest producers such as David Davis (Frank Ocean, Miguel, Justin Timberlake) among others such as Jackson Dimiglio-Wood (Shawn Mendes) as well as Ireland’s rising star songwriter, Bill Maybury.
He returned back home and moved to Galway to write and record his debut album. With a ‘sad banger’ merch clothing range and numerous sold out headline shows in Dublin, a successful Irish tour post-covid and support slots with the likes of Mabel. Lyra, Oral Gartland and many more, Tim’s live show and artist profile is truly on the rise. Billboard magazine named his work ‘a queer essential’ and he has been classed as a ‘One to Watch’ by Graham Norton on his Virgin UK Radio Show.
Tim’s work has huge popularity in the world of TV and Sync, with Are Lingus, Screen Ireland, Brown Thomas and UK’s Made in Chelsea all using his music for their campaigns/TV. He was chosen as an Irish Music Week 2023 Artist, where he met and performed to international music industry delegates such as CAA, Spotify, TikTok and Apple Music.
Photo credit – Niamh Barry