Tourist – “To Have You Back”

Tourist – “To Have You Back”

Will Phillips isn’t a singer, but his electronic textures and plaintive vocal samples pack the same emotional wallop as any James Blake croon. The London-based producer, who records under the name Tourist, co-wrote Sam Smith’s Grammy-winning smash “Stay With Me,” so it’s probably safe to say he knows a little something about grand, performative sentiment. But “To Have You Back,” the slow-burning first single from his upcoming debut album U, is subtler than that, gradually layering itself up, building to the cathartic moment when the clipped phrase “just to have you back” finally appears in full before giving way to a climactically stuttering synth breakdown. Listen.

You can also check out a teaser for the song’s video, which was directed by Davy Evans and Jason Drew, below.

U will be out sometime this spring.

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