Dom McAllister concludes a string of high calibre soulful pop releases with his masterful Low On A Wave EP, showcasing new release ‘Intentions’ featuring rapper Jords. This track is built on a subtle bassline, emotive piano chords, warped guitars and a sauntering modern pop production, all of which steadily reaches a crescendo in which Dom allows his innermost thoughts to roam free.
Speaking about ‘Intentions’, the Scottish-Fillipino musician shares:
“'Intentions' speaks on the hardships of our daily lives. In homage to London and the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. I collaborated with Jords who speaks on his story which cuts deep. During this crazy time we’re facing at the moment it’s easy to feel alone. I hope people feel less alone knowing we’re all going through hard times.”
Looking towards the EP, ‘Intentions’ joins previous releases ‘Prospects’ and ‘Movements’, which gives Dom McAllister the space to be honest about sexuality and love. Then there’s ‘Camouflage’, which talks about controlling those thoughts and feeling empowered regardless of all those problems. As you’ll hear, the production has layers of trap and cinematic synths which drive the feels throughout the tracks. And where has the memorable title Low On A Wave come from? Well the keen-eared of you will have caught the lyric “I’m sailing my love on a wave” in ‘Incense’, referring to struggles with money, addiction and falling into a routine of limbo.
Summarising his debut Low On Wave EP, Dom says:
“‘Low on a wave’ represents many things that we struggle with whilst trying to find ourselves. Sounds all extremely deep but with a little help from the mellow trap and hip hop beats I hope that listeners can still vibe to it.
Even if there were no lyrics to these tracks, I feel the producers have captured sense of emotion with every chord change, beat and moody synth. Today we respond to a #mood or vibe we all want to feel, so I wanted to create something quite “wavey” yet still expressing how I felt at the time. If anyone is feeling alone for whatever reason, I hope this can sail anybody’s low on a wave to remember we’re all going through something.”
ABOUT DOM MCALLISTER
A lover of soul music, Dom McAllister took early inspiration from vocalists such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, who drew him to the concepts of love and equality in his writing. Growing up in a Scottish and Filipino family, Dom embraced diversity and the beauty of culture from a young age, helping him to navigate through the struggles of growing up queer. Dom elaborates: “I’m still learning and figuring out new things about the LGBTQIA and that respecting the struggle is a great place to start for people completely outside of that world. It’s not so black and white but we can open up and listen to people’s different stories so we can break down the judgement and understand a little more. It’s great to see more and more queer artists express themselves authentically which is the point of music”.
With his new material, Dom is unashamedly embracing who he is and where he came from, while hoping to help break down barriers: “I’m quite a relaxed person, maybe too relaxed sometimes. Chilling and watching a David Attenborough documentary with my friends and my addiction to drag race usually keeps me sane. Entering adulthood however opened my eyes seeing that a lot of people struggle to come to terms with and appreciate who they are, so I hope that by being so vocal about what I went through, or still am going through, I can hopefully help someone relate and overcome”.
Dom might initially strike you as shy, introverted and perhaps overly humble. That humbleness however evaporates the second he steps on stage and opens his mouth. After opening stints with Izzy Bizu and Rationale on their acclaimed UK/European tours and his recent sell-out headline show at London’s Waiting Room, Dom is on course to release his hotly anticipated debut Low On A Wave EP which has Modern Popstar written all over it.
