When Tom Lark returned from the musical wilderness in 2023 with his full-length debut album, it was clear that something very special was happening; the long-time songwriting alter-ego of Shannon Fowler had cracked the code. In Brave Star, Tom Lark had delivered something warm, intelligent, and heart-felt, winding up as a finalist for both the Taite Music Prize and the Aotearoa Music Awards, not to mention getting a Top 20 nomination for the Silver Scrolls.
Cut to 2025, and with the release of his new album Moonlight Hotel, Tom Lark has shown that his formidable ear for melody and songwriting sorcery was far from just Dumb Luck, despite that being the title of the album’s impossibly memorable lead single. Radio New Zealand’s Tony Stamp praised Moonlight Hotel, noting “ Fowler’s knack for razor-sharp melodies and heart-piercing chord changes is in full effect ”, and calling it “ quietly quite profound.”
This new ten-track wonder sees Ōtautahi-born Tom Lark return with another watertight collection of folk pop hits with a country bent, self-produced and recorded at his very own Okie Dokie Studio, situated just off Karangahape Road.
Far from a one-trick pony, Fowler also makes psychedelic gospel with his group The Fuzzy Robes, has dominated the pop airwaves under his Shannon Matthew Vanya moniker, and produced, co-written and engineered tracks for the likes of Fazerdaze, Georgia Lines, Merk, Randa / Mainard Larkin and countless others.
On the horizon, there’s a whole lot of exciting stuff bubbling in the Tom Lark universe. Can we expect more “sunburnt psychedelic folk fit for sensitive cowboys to meander and philosophise to”? Sure can, all that and a whole lot more.
