Recently, I received a nice surprise when English singer-songwriter Tim Eveleigh reached out and asked if I’d like an early listen to his upcoming album Life Is Not a Competition (image inset).
I first came across Tim’s music in 2023 when I featured Overture, a meditative standout from his previous album A Record.
According to his bio, Tim Eveleigh is “a middle-class, (late) middle-aged, cis-gendered singer-songwriter from Croydon in South London, UK. He plays songs with words that aim to move you and music that aims to get you moving.”
With today marking the release of Life Is Not a Competition, I wanted to highlight my favourite track on the new record: “Drowning.” (audio link below). I’ve played it multiple times, and honestly, I still can’t get enough of it. There’s a purity and tenderness in its delivery – particularly in the vocal interplay between Tim and Maria Levesley – that feels more natural and emotionally revealing than nearly any contemporary music duet I can think of.
| You can listen to all of Tim’s songs at his web site and support his music by buying the digital album or songs (name your price). |
Tim has crafted a song where two voices sing different lyrics simultaneously, each offering a distinct perspective on the same moment. It’s a clever and quietly ambitious idea and it just sounds so cool. The technique draws on principles of counterpoint – a form of polyphony in which independent melodic lines (sometimes with different lyrics) overlap while remaining musically coherent on their own.
What makes Drowning so affecting to me is how lived-in it feels. The two voices don’t sound like performers exactly; they sound more like a real couple speaking past and toward each other at once – intimate, familiar, and heartbreakingly human.
Below is Tim explaining how he built this gorgeous piece:
I had the chords all sorted out (using the ‘doodling’ method described below) and I knew that there would be four verses and three choruses – with a double verse at the beginning.
I also had the words sorted out for the chorus of Voice One (and I particularly liked the line “Maybe I can be the light on your shore”).
I had ideas about the rhythm of the words in the verses and I had an idea that there would be two songs happening at the same time where different voices had different perspectives about the same situation.
I think we’ve just about managed this and then at the end there are three voices singing at the same time like an operatic Aria.
Life Is Not A Competition Album information
Until relatively recently I sang songs with toddlers on Thursday mornings (“Wheels On The Bus” – that sort of thing) for half and hour or so. Afterwards they would go for snacks in a different room. I would then sit and doodle on my guitar and I think 8 of the songs on this album (and bear in mind that I only wrote 9 of them) came from those ‘sessions’.
———
VOICE ONE
———
This is who I want to be
This is how I want to feel
This is all I have to say
And this is what I want to do
Tell me who I need to be
Tell me what you’d like to hear
Tell me what you want to feel
Tell me how to make this real
Tell me how to help you heal
Maybe we can start again
Maybe we can just stay friends
Maybe I can walk away from your door
Maybe we can make a deal
I’ll stifle everything that I feel
Maybe I can be the light on your shore
I feel trapped in this place but I made it for myself
How did I fail to see how much I loved you
I thought I saw you today
But I knew it wasn’t you
I’m following strangers around
“Walking to sea in the rain”
Tell me what i need to say to make all of this go away
Tell me what I can do to make everything OK.
———
VOICE TWO
———
I can tell you how I feel when I’m alone
You can show me where I fall into your arms
I let you down
Time and again I wasn’t listening
If we want to live together we need to make time for each other
If we want to make time for each other then we need to change
———–
VOICE THREE
———–
If we want to stay together we need to understand each other
If we want to understand each other then we need to talk
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Sounds interesting!
I take it – that’s a good thing? 🙂
Hahaha (or jajaja, since I’m in Mexico). Yeah, I meant that in a good way 🙂
Enjoy your time in Mexico, amigo.
Wow! That is so cool that he reached out to you. Kind of like behind the scenes access.
I was elated when Tim contacted me. Yeh,it was cool alright.
So the question begs Ashley – Do you like the song?
I do! It is a comfy song, and I was not expecting the female voice, but it added another depth to it. I also very much like it when you can hear people’s accents when they sing. The reliance on the snare drum (I think that is what the main beat is at least) reminds me of another more eccentric artist Devendra Banhart. His song ‘Nun’ has a similar drum beat to it that is simple but effective.
I wish I earned a dollar for every time I’ve heard this song over the past few days lol. I also wish I’d added something like your comment about the accents—they’re strong here, but so sweet and homely. I really like the rhythm too. I’ll get back to you on the snare drum if Tim feels like clarifying that part.
Ashley, Tim, just responded about the drum set-up:
I initially use a cajon – it’s almost the first thing that’s recorded.
Andy Thornton (the producer – and I highly recommend looking up his music on Bandcamp at https://andythornton.bandcamp.com/) has done an amazing job wrangling this in cubase software. There is one mic on the front and one behind the cajon. He’s managed to use effects on the recordings so that my very basic tapping sounds something like a snare and a bass drum. I wanted a real ‘rimshot/pistol shot’ sound for the snare across the album(s) and I think he’s achieved that.
Oh wow that is sick of him responding!
I have not ever seen that instrument before, that is so cool!
I love how experimental you can get with music. It reminds me a lot of AJR who is a trio of brothers who have become more well known. They do a lot of the same more unorthodox and creative ways of creating their music.
I definitely plan on hearing more of Tim’s music!
Tim added:
‘it’s lovely that people are interested…..I hope that all makes some sense. If not: please do ask more questions’.
I’m just sitting here listening to some of AJR’s music. It’s unorthodox for sure.
I just think it is beautiful that Tim is creating music with his wife! Traveling this creative path with a partner is such a magical experience and is such a personal gift to everyone who listens to it.
AJR is definitely not for everyone but I like it lol they use alot sound samples that I enjoy. Particularly one of their newest songs ‘The Big Goodbye’ they use a sample of a barbershop quartet in the beginning as well as an auctioneer voice throughout.
Listening to music that feels intimate and comfy — as you rightly put it — and pairing it with Tim’s real-time feedback is definitely a huge bonus.
I was listening to that very song by AJR when I wrote to you (very clever) and it reminded me a bit of Tom Waits’ ‘Step Right Up’ – where he assumes the voice of a carnival barker in this polemic about advertising and commercialism. Good stuff.
«Drowning» sounds great, Matt, and the vocal delivery is very intriguing. I’ll be sure to further check out Tim Eveleigh’s new album.
I found it intriguing at first, and the more I listened, the more it clawed its way into the recesses of my music-loving brain — lol. I’m a huge fan of this track; there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s cool, distinctive, and somehow completely real.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the album too.
This has been a cool experience so far so thank you for that! I went to Warped Tour one year, which is this music fastival over here, and while we were wating to get in, this guy comes up to us playing mysic on a speaker. I did not hear him introduce himself at first so I was a bit confused but as it turned out, he was the lead singer for one of the groups that was performing that day. He was doing a bit of on site promo for his first album. I ended up buying a signed copy straight from him.
That interaction is always so special.
Ooh those two songs dedinitly give off similar feels for sure. I am glad you liked the song! AJR has jumped up to one of my favorite more mainstream groups for sure.
Tell me about it… To have an artist just reach out to me and then follow up answering questions about the production side – well that’s better than I could have hoped for when I started to Music Library Project in 2019.
Wow, so you had a lead singer who was playing at the festival just playing his music to you. That’s pretty cool! I find it’s the small things like that by artists (going the extra yard) which create life-long followers. That happened to me when ‘The Cake’ sent me in the mail their latest CD ‘Curious’ after we saw David Bridie perform.
I feel your love for AJR and its great you are now onboard their boat. ‘Toot, toot’. Super!
You are definitely in a blessed and sick position for sure!
Yeah, lol I felt bad since I was probably giving him a weird look at first since I disassociate when I am around a crap ton of people and all of a sudden, this guy is blasting music through a Bluetooth speaker and looking at me lol He was a cool young man. Being mailed a CD is even sicker since they had to pay for that and make more of an effort. That is so cool!
Sick man, yeh baby! lol
Cool young man, sick and all, looking at you (which I don’t blame him mind you lol)
Sorry, if I was out of line there. I was just trying to be congenial.
I just re-read this exchange. You were using “sick” in the modern, positive sense — as in “awesome” — but when I look back at my reply, it could be taken the wrong way, as if I meant “sick” in a negative sense. Really, I was just glowing toward you and following your upbeat use of the word. I feel a bit silly for not making that clearer — it could easily read the wrong way, even though that wasn’t my intention at all.
It’s all good lol
I understand what you meant. I have just been hecka busy today. We are going into our last two days of being in the house, so we have been moving crap out lol
Oh wow, that’s huge. It sold and the moving has happened so quick. Incredible. What’s next on the cards?
I made a post about it just now but we close on Monday and are going to be staying in a hotel for a few days after before we go and get the RV. It has been SO quick but now it is time to crap or get off the pot for us lol
Just posted on it over your way. Wow