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Sunderland’s Tom A. Smith announces his long-awaited debut album The Golden Gates, arriving April 2nd, 2027, via Fiction Records. Accompanying the announcement is the electrifying new single “Carry That Weight“, co-written with The Maccabees’ Hugo White, and backed with “When The Angels Sing My Song”, introducing an ambitious record that reveals a previously unseen side of the 22-year-old songwriter.
Alongside the announcement, the 22-year-old songwriter speaks publicly for the first time about living with a rare, life-limiting heart condition, revealing the deeply personal experiences that inspired his debut record. Born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, Tom has spent his life navigating an uncertain future while keeping much of his medical history private. Now, through The Golden Gates, he is ready to share that story in his own words, with his full personal statement included below.
Recorded in Sunderland and co-produced alongside Barry Hyde of The Futureheads, Tom’s former guitar teacher and long-time mentor, The Golden Gates brings together twelve tracks of impassioned alternative rock, intimate songwriting and emotional honesty.
Leading the release, “Carry That Weight” is a ferocious, riff-driven statement born from a spontaneous writing session with Hugo White. Created in a single day around White’s Fender Six guitar, the track combines Tom’s instinctive musical energy with an exploration of love, uncertainty and the fear that his health condition could become a burden to somebody he cares about.
“Hugo knows my story, knows the situation. We did it all in a day,” Tom explains.
Across the album, that personal journey unfolds through three distinct emotional chapters: frustration, love and acceptance. From the urgent intensity of “Everyone Else” and the searching introspection of “Answers” to the tender piano ballad “Flower”, Tom confronts experiences that have shaped his life while delivering some of his most ambitious songwriting to date.
The album’s striking artwork, featuring the surgical scars across his chest, reflects an equally significant personal transformation. Having spent much of his childhood hiding those scars, Tom now places them at the centre of a record about understanding and embracing his identity.
Yet he is determined that the album should be recognised for its music and message of hope rather than defined by adversity.
“The main thing for me is that this isn’t a sob story. It’s me being myself – and, as the final songs on the album show, there’s happiness in my acceptance of my situation.”
Already celebrated for his commanding live performances, he has appeared at Glastonbury, SXSW and a locked out Great Escape show this summer, sharing stages with Elton John, The Maccabees, Gang of Youths, The Kooks and Miles Kane, among others.
The Golden Gates will be available on CD, standard black double vinyl, a signed gold double LP exclusive to Tom’s online store, an independent retailer-exclusive gold double LP and a Rough Trade-exclusive gold splatter double LP.
Combining explosive musicianship with an extraordinary personal perspective, The Golden Gates marks a defining moment for an artist ready to share his most important story yet.
Tom A. Smith live:
11th Nov – Brighton – Patterns
12th Nov – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach
13th Nov – Stoke – The Sugarmill 14th Nov – Bedford – Esquire’s
19th Nov – London, Electric Brixton (supporting Meek)
21st Nov – Plymouth – The Junction
22nd Nov – Portsmouth – The Wedgewood Rooms
25th Nov – Hull – Polar Bear
26th Nov – Whitehaven – The Yellow Earl
27th Nov – Huddersfield – Parish
2nd Dec – Edinburgh – Cabaret Voltaire
3rd Dec – Liverpool – Arts Club The Theatre
5th Dec – Bristol, Thekla, Paint By Numbers (afternoon headliner)
5th Dec – Wrexham – The Rockin’ Chair
6th Dec – Nottingham, Bodega, Paint By Numbers
22nd Dec – London, Barfly: Radio X ‘X-Posure Live’ (headliner)
10th Apr – Bridlington Spa, This Feeling By The Sea
5th June – Cornwall, The Great Estate
