The last two weeks ended up turning into a quiet Tom Hartman phase for me. I kept going back to his voice and especially his new single “I’ve Been Away” usually late at night with headphones on and nothing else playing after it. There’s something easy about the way he writes. The song is honest and one of the best records I’ve heard recently.
Tom is a Dutch singer-songwriter and you can hear that traveling spirit in the way he creates music. The song carries this thoughtful mood about distance, change and trying to reconnect with yourself after drifting for a while. The writing is real and clear which made it easy to sit with.
He has a rich voice with a soft tone but there’s still enough weight behind the lines to keep things interesting. I really liked the production quality here. The instrumentation stays simple most of the time and letting the vocals lead the song instead of covering them up with extra layers.
After spending time with this single, I ended up enjoying Tom’s style even more. He sounds comfortable doing his own thing and that made me excited about the rest of his catalog too. I’d love to cover more of his music later this year because this one stayed with me longer than I expected.
