TOM SKINNER – Kaleidoscopic Visions – LP – Black Vinyl [SEP 26]

LP – Limited edition black vinyl with insert and Brownswood / International Anthem obi-strip.

Drummer-composer Tom Skinner announces Kaleidoscopic Visions, his second solo album, out 26th September 2025 via Brownswood Recordings and International Anthem.

Kaleidoscopic Visions unfolds across two distinct sonic landscapes. Side A presents entirely instrumental compositions performed by Skinner’s live Bishara bandbassist Tom Herbert, cellist Kareem Dayes, and Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael on various woodwinds and reedswith electric guitar on two tracks courtesy of Portishead‘s Adrian Utley. A drummer-composer bringing his wealth of experience to bear on the role of bandleader, Skinner composed primarily on guitar, embracing the freedom that came with writing on his secondary instrument.

These compositions include “Auster,” dedicated to late novelist Paul Auster, and “Margaret Anne,” which honours Skinner’s mother Anne Shasby, a former classical concert pianist prodigy who abandoned her own promising career in the face of systemic misogyny, only to impart on her son what Skinner calls “the gift of music.”

Skinners musical world opens further on Side B, where a collection of poised vocal collaborations stretch out from jazz and improvisation towards a more dream-like, soulful sound. The centerpiece is “The Maxim,” a ten-minute collaboration with Grammy Award-winning Meshell Ndegeocello, a dubby, spacious meditation on life and death, delivered with a free-spirited grace. For Skinner, working with Ndegeocellowhom he first saw at Glastonbury as a teenager in 1994represents a full-circle moment, indicative of the indirect paths and inspirational detours that have shaped his life.

The album goes on to feature South Carolina-based singer Contour (Khari Lucas) who appears on the low-lit soul ballad Logue, and closes with See How They Run, featuring London keyboardist-vocalist Yaffra (Jonathan Geyevu). It is the albums most overtly lyrical track, an articulate exposition of jazz-inflected spoken word that speaks not only to the genre-fluid nature of the music but the breadth of Skinners palette.

This should come as no surprise. On Kaleidoscopic Visions, one of Londons most vital musical figures gives us a sparkling glimpse of the multi-coloured lens through which his unique sound is now refracting.

Tracklist:

Side A
1. There’s Nothing To Be Scared Of
2.Auster
3.Margaret Anne
4.Kaleidoscopic Visions
5.MHA
6.Still (Quiet)

Side B
1. The Maxim [ft. Meshell Ndegeocello]
2. Extensions 12
3. Logue [ft. Contour]
4. See How They Run [ft. Yaffra]

Performed by:
Tom Skinner – drums, percussion, vibraphone, electric guitar, 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, synths, piano, drum machine, FX and processing
Tom Herbert – electric bass, acoustic bass
Robert Stillman bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Chelsea Carmichael tenor saxophone, flute
Kareem Dayes cello
Adrian Utley electric guitar

Featuring:
Meshell Ndegeocello voice, clavinet, wurlitzer and bass synth
Contour voice
Yaffra voice, synths, piano

Artwork and creative direction by Paul Camo for Studio Camo
Photography by Jason Evans

Recorded by Dilip Harris and Antonio Feola at Fish Factory studios
Additional recording and overdubs at St Lukes West Holloway
Produced by Tom Skinner
Mixed by Dilip Harris at Mancrush Studios
Mastered by Guy Davie at Electric Mastering

All music written and produced by Tom Skinner, published by Warp Publishing, except The Maxim written by Tom Skinner and Meshell Ndegeocello, published by BMI, administered by BMG, ‘Logue written by Tom Skinner and Khari Lucas, published by BMI, See How They Run written by Tom Skinner and Jonathan Geyevu, Copyright Control

Meshell Ndegeocello appears courtesy of Blue Note Records

An Unearthly Arts production