The ethereal noisemaker, storm breaker, and musician/producer Thunderthief blesses our speakers with a chilling and transcendent new single, "Cherry."
One can best describe Thunderthief's music as alt house, as he blends pulsing electro beats influenced by vast genres alongside savory synths, driving basslines, and bright guitar work. Thunderthief's music often evokes a serene sense of emotion and nostalgia, but with a melodic and groovy undertone that anyone can admire.
His latest single, "Cherry," is incredibly dreamy and lush, and we're truly impressed with how carefully Thunderthief arranged this piece in order to give off the perfect amount of soul, funk, emotion, and modernity. There are several dips, twists, and turns that Thunderthief takes us through in the new single, all of which perfectly paint surreal scenes that chill us down the spine.
Diving into the new single, "Cherry," the song softly opens with soothing keyboard melodies and fading background synths that slowly drift into the foreground. As the groovy and warm beat drops, so does the plucky guitar lick that perfectly enhances the song's blissful and chilling atmosphere. We appreciate how Thunderthief took his time to carefully break down each unique transition; this song clearly represents his vast artistic skillset.
Thunderthief complexly travels into the song's second half, where he showers us in a radiant electric guitar that soothes the soul alongside the lush keyboard melodies to up the song's emotion and heart. As we float our way to the zen outro, Thunderthief closes the track with ample notes of euphoria and pure, utter bliss.
Do some soul-searching with help from Thunderthief's chilling new single, "Cherry," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Thunderthief. We're truly impressed with the soothing and tender sounds in your latest single, "Cherry." Did anything inspire you to create this piece, or was it more of a spur of the moment?
"Cherry" came to life through a writing session I had with my friend in December of 2019. It was the first holiday season since my mom passed away in October of that year and I processed my emotions through making music, so everything we were writing during that session had a tinge of somber beauty to it. Between that session and a few solo studio days to develop the idea from a loop to a full-blown song, I cruised through writing parts that I thought fit beautifully and it became the full song very quickly.
Could you take us through your creative process for "Cherry?" How did you begin laying the foundation and working your way up?
I have a podcast called HAPPY ACCIDENTS with THUNDERTHIEF that walks through the process of creating all my songs front to back that explains this in more detail, but the cliff notes version is as follows. My friend Dan came over for a writing session and we made 4 different loop ideas that only 1 ended up becoming a full song, which is Cherry. He wrote the first and last guitar parts in the song along with a basic version of the verse drum beat that's in the track. I took that loop home, started expanding the song fully, and wrote the verse bassline and synth chords to create a dreamy but driving sort of energy. To move the song along, I wrote a new synth bassline that I knew wanted to have a 4x4 drum beat sitting behind it, which I made from the kick drum pattern of the verse drums to give it some familiarity but from a different place. The hook guitar part that happens during the middle of the song was written in an attempt to act as a vocal melody with softness and simplicity, but to be emotional and impactful. The drums throughout that middle part aspire to be a house music version of the verse drums with a lot of ride cymbal, driving hat hats, and interesting percussion sound. Then the track comes back around to where it started, but with a different guitar part and subtle percussion difference from the first part of the song. What impact do you hope to make on listeners when experiencing your lush arrangements in "Cherry"?
I learned a long time ago that I have no control over what people think about my music, I only have control over how I feel about it. But I know that grief and emotional stress have become a lot more typical states of being in the last couple of years, and I hope that my way of dealing with those states of mind can help others deal with theirs as well. Some of my songs are made to dance to, some feel to, but all of them are for you to do whatever you need them to do.
Could you share some artistic influences of yours? Whose music would you say impacted your sound the most?
I think most of my musical influence comes from my teenage years when music has the most impact and can resonate deeper than in any other time in our lives. Bands like Coheed & Cambria, Saves the Day, and AFI has a huge influence on my bass and guitar playing, while artists like Beastie Boys, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, The Crystal Method, and BT influence my production style and sound design preferences.
What's next for you?
I just had my album release show in January and that was amazing, but it's really hard to stay consistent with shows right now because it seems like there's a 50/50 chance of any show actually happening each night. My plans are to continue releasing my podcast for each of the songs on my album Past Amore and to write another handful of releasable songs by the fall of this year. I plan to write as many songs as possible in my life and how they are released or performed is bound to change throughout, but I hope to adapt well enough to create and live the way I have always dreamed.
