“…worldbuilding seems to be its defining quality. It is a breathtakingly beautiful, complex, and larger-than-life album. The only limit is your imagination… an album filled with stories, interesting atmospheres, and brilliant guitar-driven melodies.“
From the review of ‘The Shadow Behind the Sun’ by BT Fasmer (New Age Music Guide)
Hear from me rather than read – give a listen to the Artist in Profile interview on One World Music Radio!
Music is a way to leave the world behind, and go on a journey to another place, and I hope my music guides you to some wonderful new worlds! Come along with me and we’ll head someplace relaxing, but also inspiring, uplifting, and energizing – it may be music to drift off to, but not music to drift off to sleep to 😉
In my music, you’ll find influences as diverse as Celtic and rock, electronic and folk, with inspiration coming from artists like Mike Oldfield, Clannad, Enya, Jean-Michel Jarre, Dire Straits, Loreena Mckennit, Hawkwind, and too many more to mention.
Guitars (classical, acoustic-electric, electric, and bass) combine with synthesizers, so that the music has that mix of both the organic and the electronic. Jump aboard and we’ll head back to medieval times, or launch ourselves into the depths of space – and just like bringing back photographs from a vacation, you’ll find strong melodies that stay with you after the journey is done.
“Once more the keyboards and electric guitar magic of Cu Sithe work their spell wonderfully, creating for us a moving opus of colour through music, and the resultant piece is like mixing Oldfield with Floyd…“
From the review of ‘The Shadow Behind the Sun’ by Steve Sheppard (One World Music Radio)
Tom Grimes (that’s me!) is the main force behind Cu Sithe, working with occasional session musicians and singers when needed. I was born and raised in the North East of Scotland, and got my degree in Psychology from Aberdeen University.
Fascinated by many subjects, I have followed a meandering path in life and have been an analyst/programmer for Rolls-Royce, a tech support supervisor and then a network operations engineer for a cable and internet company, a freelance 3D artist, and a marketing and community specialist for 3D software companies.
My other interests outside of music include photography, computer graphics, writing novels and stories, science fiction and fantasy, VR, and video games – many of which influence or appear alongside my music.
After completing university up in the NE of Scotland, I moved to England for a while, back to Scotland for a bit, then moved to Texas in 2003, and most recently in 2017 to my current adopted home – Nashville, Tennessee. With the U.S. being my chosen home, I now have American Citizenship.
For writing and stories, I work with my novelist sister Ember Skye Joan-Figuerola, while for graphic design work (such as the logo), I work with my daughter, Airyll.
Like any artist, I love to talk about my work and influences, so feel free to get in touch!