Premiere: The Sleepy Early Morning Warmth of Glenn Thomas’ “Oriole”

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Glenn Thomas’ “Oriole” captures those sleepless early mornings in summer when the birds and rising sun are the only things around to happily hear your musings.

Stream: “Oriole” – Glenn Thomas

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Spring is calling. Or, depending on where you live in the world, the ambience of spring is calling in the imagination. The freshness of greenery and florals that trails through the air and the early morning light getting gradually getting brighter behind bedroom curtains. There’s comfort in sleepless nights when the sun begins to rise and birds chat amongst themselves in the solitude of the outside. The brain’s rushing with thoughts but optimism lies beside you, reminding you of the life in the day ahead. It’s this that’s part of the charm of warmer months; it’s nature doing its thing. Listening to Glenn Thomas is like being in those moments, even if the snow is still thick and slushy and the air still tediously icy.

Little oriole, sing me a song
I’ve got time to give, there’d nowhere I belong
I was thinking of someone I don’t even know anymore
Little oriole, how do you move when it feels
like the world’s turned its back on you?
I know you can’t hear me but I talk as if you do
I was hoping for me it would not be the same
It is anyway

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Oriole”, the latest single by American singer-songwriter Glenn Thomas (released 6 March) Folky, calm, with a skip in its step, its rhythm is familiar and bright. Solace is found in the company of birds, those sleepless early mornings when thoughts are rushing throughout the head resulting in amiably- slightly crazed- asked questions. ‘How do you move when it feels like the world’s turned its back on you?’ and ‘how many men have hoping your flight takes what is haunting their heads?’ are tunefully uttered as though the cheeping of the birds is the answer desired to be heard.

“I wrote this song after a bout of insomnia, where I wouldn’t fall asleep until early in the morning each night,” Glenn Thomas tells Atwood Magazine. “There was that dreaded time before the sun began to rise where the birds would start chirping. I thought it would be funny to ask the birds the questions that were keeping me up, since they were all unanswerable anyway. When I set the words to music, I thought it would be fun to make the music sound really fun and lively, like a 60s pop song with serious lyrics.”

Little oriole, how many men have
hoping your flight takes
what is haunting their heads?
Are we trying too hard
to find God in the beat of your wing?
So little oriole, what’s there to say
when you realize it all fades to grey?
I’m in love with the truth
but I long for the comfort of lies
I was hoping for me it would not be the same
It is anyway

On the production of the song, Thomas tells Atwood Magazine: “When it came time to record this, Jordan (Lehning – his producer) helped define that 60s Brit pop vibe. We wanted a fun lead like whistling or a harmonica, and it happened that Nashville session legend, Charlie McCoy was available. We spent more time asking him to tell us stories than it took him to record his parts!”

“Oriole” is taken from the album Reassure Me There’s A Window, due out on the 15 May. The album, recorded in Nashville, follows a similar easy-going reflectiveness as “Oriole”, with the additional guitar twangs and the sound of violins like hazy streaks of sunset while travelling solitarily on an open road. Raised in New England, Thomas encapsulates that ambience of small town daydreaming. “Oriole” is a reminder that, whether we’re with our own thoughts or sharing company with nature, we’re never solely alone- regardless of how delirious we feel.

Stream: “Oriole” – Glenn Thomas

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