Tomato/Tomato are keeping us guessing. With the duo’s new album due being released soon, we’ve been dealt a series of songs digging into their roots – not necessarily those of the charming folksy, washboard and guitar sound they’re known for, but the sounds that made them fall in love with music in the first place.
“Better at Leaving,” their latest single, is a nod to Motown with a solid groove and not a washboard in sight.
After taking some time to settle into their thoughts on what to do with a fifth album, Tomato/Tomato set off in the direction of some timeless classics. For them, it represented their childhood, with John turning to the mixtapes his father had made for him. The Beatles and The Beach Boys both can be heard heavily influencing their previous single, “Chasing Rainbows”, while the Motown influences of “Better at Leaving” comes from Lisa’s experiences growing up in Chicago.
The single might just be the least wholesome song the husband and wife duo have ever released. They’ve eschewed their habitual family-friend material for the downright scandalous subject matter of what seems to be a semi-regular casual weekend dalliance.
“Up in the air, take it or leave it,
I keep telling my friends she’s just in for the weekend,
Come Monday morning she’ll be halfway to Cleveland,
She’s good at love but she’s better at leaving”
Despite Lisa having grown up in Chicago, Lisa insists that the song has nothing to do with the early days of their courtship (the pair did meet while attending Jazz College at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where Lisa called John “Josh” for the first two weeks), and the song is purely fictional.
“Although fictional, it is somewhat timely in that we wish Donald Trump was better at leaving,” says Lisa.
Tomato/Tomato’s new album and fifth release, It’ll Come Around, will be available on November 20, 2020, arriving “at the end of a year where the title’s message of optimism feels both relevant and needed.”