When singer/songwriter Tom Moran makes reference to scenes like being stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, he’s not trying to get you to imagine yourself in a romanticized version of the Big Apple. He’s just a person trying to get home. And in the rare instances where famous landmarks appear on his full-length debut Roommate of a Friend of Mine, Moran strips away the glow of coolness that so often enshrouds them, making space for the kind of quiet introspection we rarely associate with the metropolitan grind.
Roommate of a Friend of Mine is an album that very much points you back down to earth with songs that find their way to wherever you happen to be, to hit you where you live in every sense of the term. One can feel out of place—and learn how to find one’s place—anywhere. And it’s between those two poles of experience that a lifetime’s worth of highly relatable, almost beautifully mundane, interactions unfolds across the ten slice-of-life turns of rippling folk-pop the album showcases.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for Moran’s song “Hermit.” This harmonica-laden tune falls in the vein of classic folk with just a touch of pop sensibility. Moran shares lyrics that are direct and vivid, painting a picture that finds him showing his vulnerability as a songwriter. The simple acoustic arrangement lends itself to the vocals and lyrics, which shine in a way that is both melancholy and nostalgic. The footage of Moran wandering amidst fall foliage and penning songs in a notebook makes you associate it with being a perfect soundtrack for autumn when there is a touch of sadness at the fading of summer and its vibrant memories.
Moran describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Hermit is one of my oldest songs. I wrote it when I was 16. It was the first song people seemed to really react to. I remember a friend of mine who was a big metal head told me it made him cry, so I’ve never stopped playing it. Not that my goal is to make metal heads cry, I just want to write songs that people can connect to.”
WATCH:
Photo credit: Stephanie Augello
