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One day, (probably quite soon), Tom Milsom will be seriously famous.  Multi-tentacled talent such as his will not remain undiscovered (or unsigned) for long.

This 19 year-old “from south London” writes songs, plays ukelele, drums and Casiotone AND he makes films, draws cartoons and runs one of the most popular YouTube channels in the world.  His Internet Love Song (singalong chorus, everybody now: “BRB, OMG, LOL. ROFLMAO“) has already been a hit on the web – and would make a great case study for Dubber’s New Music Strategies.

Here’s a song about a dead cat, and yes, Tom did the animation and played and wrote all the music:

Tom’s début album, Awkward Ballads for the Easily Pleased is 100% geeky and self-knowing.   Songs like Watching Paint Dry (about, er, home decoration) are infused with enough late-teen weltschmerz to hint that there’s more depth to Milsom’s music than first meets the ear. The disc glories in painstakingly-wrought rhymes and the sort of internal lyrical logic that only comes from writing and recording alone in your  bedroom. Really quite special.

It’s very possible that I am, indeed, easily pleased.  At the moment I haven’t quite decided whether Tom Milson is the Spike Milligan for the Millenial Kids, or the Ivor Cutler for the New Century. Either/or/neither, he’s one to watch.

Buy Tom’s album as mp3s on emusic, or the CD via his website. You can even follow Tom on Twitter.