If you were wondering where Tom Misch had been for the past few years, “Flowers in Bloom,” the opening song from sophomore album Full Circle, might offer an answer. “Took some just to heal my mind,” he sings atop an acoustic strum, adding that he “went back to the beginning, just to find it deep within me.” He mentions hitting the “salty air” and appreciating the “ocean breeze.” It is a song that feels lived-in and authentic.
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Full Circle (March 27) arrives as Misch’s first full solo studio album in eight years, arriving as a belated sequel to 2018’s Geography. That album came after two star-making mixtapes Beat Tape 1 (2014) and Beat Tape 2 (2015) that marked him out as one of British music’s bright young things, a guitarist and songwriter who could flit between jazz, pop, hip-hop and disco and could pull a feature or two (more on those later).
His star continued to grow during the pandemic due to his Quarantine Sessions which featured covers of Nirvana and Solange. 2020’s What Kinda Music, a joint album with jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, was released via Blue Note Records and nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello award.
Yet behind the scenes, Misch was struggling. The pressure of being a solo act – paired with ever-increasing opportunities being sent his way – was impacting his mental health. His anxiety grew to the point that a tour of Australia in 2022 was cancelled. In a recent statement explaining his choices, he said that the “project got bigger than I ever imagined” and that the “intensity of it all caught up with me.” He downed tools, hit the road and fully logged off.
“It came from necessity,” Misch tells Billboard U.K. of that period, speaking from Sri Lanka where he’s visiting on a surfing trip. “I needed something different. I wanted to leave London and be around people and have some kind of structure and routine.” That turned out to be a surfing school in Cornwall, England, where he could enter as a complete beginner and push his body in a way he hadn’t had the chance to.
“It can be really hard as a musician as you’re not part of an institution; there’s no safety net,” he explains. “You’re basically self-employed.”
Being a solo artist, too, instead of a band can lead to “lonely” and “confusing” experiences, especially for performers who don’t use a stage name or moniker; for Misch, his worth and stature as a musician was tied to his personal identity. Deciding to pull back from that and focus on himself was a risky decision, but one he knew he had to take.
Arthur Comely
A period of travelling and part-time work in different jobs allowed him to reconnect with himself. He worked as a barista and a gardener (“the first time I properly had a boss”). He drove a campervan through Portugal on a solo venture and moved back to his family home in southeast London. Returning to the guitar – Misch’s primary songwriting tool – came tentatively and without expectations. Eliciting a strong feeling of enjoyment was more important than the end product.
“Following that time out and having that little meltdown, it made me realise I just want to enjoy life and want to feel good and be able to appreciate it,” he says. “There’s no point having a thriving career if you can’t enjoy it. Like, what’s the point?”
He’s not the first British artist in recent times to speak candidly about mental health and tell fans when they need time away. Sam Fender, Lola Young, Wet Leg, Arlo Parks and more have all stepped back from live performances in recent years when the burnout of touring took its toll. A 2023 census by charity Help Musicians said that 30% of U.K. musicians reported low mental wellbeing.
Misch says that starting his career on SoundCloud helped him set a solid base around him as an independent musician and hold autonomy over his career decisions: “I’m very fortunate to be a part of that golden era of SoundCloud. That was my springboard. Those days of being able to create every day and put it out and develop. It also took the pressure off things and helped me find a community.”
He remains an indie musician and retains the rights to his masters, a huge advantage in 2026. A number of his songs (“It Runs Through Me,” “Movie” and “Beautiful Escape”) have amassed hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify alone, and Geography hit No. 8 on the U.K.’s Albums Chart. “I’m fortunate that I don’t have to be thinking about [touring] right now,” he says. “I just want to see how it goes.”
In the intervening years, the 30-year-old released electronic and house-influenced music under the Supershy alias, but a return to music issued as Tom Misch came slowly. Making an album was not a priority, until he began working with a selection of trusted writers and producers to dip his toe in the water. Matt Maltese (Rosalía, Joy Crookes), Ian Fitchuk (Jelly Roll, Beyoncé) and Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves) helped Misch shape the sound and feel of the folk-tinged songs on Full Circle.
A warm new sound emerged from Misch’s songwriting, with Neil Young, JJ Cale, Adrienne Lenker and James Taylor credited as inspirations. “Sisters With Me,” a paean to the support of his loving family, is sonically forthright, and built upon Misch’s combination of tender instrumentation and his soothing vocals. “When the tears are rolling down my face… When I’m lost and trying to find my way/ I know that I will be OK,” he sings of his bond with his two siblings.
“It can be a challenge making a song work with just a guitar, because you have to be saying something interesting and truthful,” he says of the approach on Full Circle. “I feel like the lyrics on this record have to be good, especially when it’s so stripped back. On Geography I could hide behind grooves a bit and production.”
Why was now the right time to let people into his life via his songwriting? “I don’t think I had that maturity before,” he says. “This record is a result of me going through a lot, maturing and just a very introspective process in my life and getting to know myself a bit more.”
Charlotte Patmore
Misch says that he craves real authentic interaction in songs, particularly in the industry’s current iteration. “I don’t think it’s deliberately linked to AI, but maybe there’s something subconscious happening there about wanting to make something very human and personal and leaning into that.”
Full Circle boasts just one feature — a switch-up from his previous record, which hosted guest appearances from rappers De La Soul, GoldLink and Loyle Carner. “[Full Circle] felt so personal as a record, I didn’t want to dilute that by chucking on a feature,” he says. “In the past I’ve done features where I’ve sent a rapper a beat and they’ll just send back a verse and that’s it. I haven’t even met half the people I’ve worked with. I didn’t want to do that; it didn’t feel right.”
The bug for creativity caught him, and following the release of Clairo’s 2024 LP Charm – a key influence on Full Circle – he hit up its producer Leon Michels about collaborating. Michels and Misch then connected with Brazilian legend Marcos Valle and headed to Rio de Janeiro to produce and play on the latter’s upcoming album.
Alongside growing his Wildflower community project, which supports emerging musicians, Misch will return to the stage for a two-night stand at London’s KOKO theatre, beginning April 1. He has some new players in his band and is not putting pressure on himself to commit to anything beyond that; if he enjoys the performances, he’ll get more dates booked in. It’s an appropriately wizened approach, following his thoughtful and understated comeback.
“The first thing with me now is, ‘does it feel good?’” he says. “And if it feels good, I’ll have longevity and have a long career, because I feel good.”
