‘Let it slide’ is the refrain running through ‘Termination Day’ by Canberra baroque folk-rock, cosmic country psychedelic artist Tom Woodward. But that slide – which he embodies vocally as well – is an accusation of sorts: we are letting things slide as tech feudalism and economic totalitarianism creeps in. Thus the song is not so much a rebuttal as a big, bold pushing-back against those forces. And it is having its premiere on Sunburnt Country Music today.
Listen to the song: https://tomwoodward.bandcamp.com/album/termination-day
‘It is an ironically upbeat rock ’n’ roll banger,’ says Woodward. ‘As Jean-Paul Sartre said, “you always have a choice, even if that choice is to get shot in the head.” It was written after listening to “Tops” by The Rolling Stones when I was bored one evening. I thought, “I could write something like that …” picked up my guitar and out came the riff.’
The driving rhythm of the song suggests the relentlessness that Woodward is pushing against, while the layered vocals in the refrain, especially towards the end, suggest we’re not alone in what’s happening, that we have company, and Katie Walsh’s backing vocal in particular lifts the chorus above the rhythm, suggesting that there’s hope even as Woodward acknowledges the reality.
After developing his craft in Canberra and Melbourne in the mid-2000s Woodward took his songs around Australia, the USA and Japan. He released the album Beautiful Shadows in 2015, receiving critical acclaim, and he’s performed his songs at the National Folk Festival and the Multicultural Fringe Festival, as well supporting acts such as Abbe May, The Drones, Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen, Cash Savage & the Last Drinks, Machine Translations and Steve Poltz. In 2023 he spent two months walking the east coast of Australia, without his guitar in tow. The trite line here would be to say that Woodward ‘walks the talk’ but in this case it’s true: he has been around the world, he has committed himself to challenges, his eyes are open and ‘Termination Day’ is a result, a raging against the dying of the light and a call to action, if not arms.
Tom Woodward tour dates:
