Shem Thomas – Album «8»

About Me

My name is Shem Thomas and I’m a singer-songwriter from Switzerland. Some people know me from the songs «Crossroads» or «We Just Need A Little». I started my career as a street musician, until I swapped the street for the TV stage of «The Voice of Switzerland» in 2014. The following debut single «Crossroads» made it straight to #1 in the Swiss single charts and the debut album in 2015 made it to #2 of the Swiss album charts. «Crossroads» reached gold status and «We Just Need A Little» made it into the Top 30 of the Swiss airplay charts. With over six million Spotify streams, «We Just Need A Little» is the most streamed song of me so far.

All this has shown me that many people like my music and get inspired by it. Since my debut album release in 2015 I have been able to play more than 150 concerts all around Switzerland. I played at many festivals, clubs and private events. I always wanted to create songs that touch people and inspire them. So thanks for your great vibrancy so far! I’m sure this is just the beginning.

My Project

I have released the single «Crossroads» in 2014 and the album «you’re (not) the only one» in 2015. Now the second album «8» is in the making!

Quite some time has passed since my last release. Beside last year’s live gigs I have worked about 6000 hours on new music. Now it’s time to release it. Over the last couple of years, I went through a personal music development and also grew in the role as a songwriter and producer. This time I was not only writing the songs, I also produced them by myself. After my debut album in 2015, I wanted to be more independent and more involved in the whole process of a song creation. So I decided to build up a home studio and teach myself how to produce. It was an intense process!

I quit my major label deal with Universal Music Switzerland, bought an Ableton license and started learning how to produce in 2016. After many tutorials, learning-by-doing sessions and consulting sessions with other producers, I was ready to produce in 2018.

Nonetheless, to be inspired from the outside, I worked with a few co-producers from home and abroad. Good sparring partners were for example the Svenska Grammofon studio in Gothenburg (Sweden), John Kilpatrick (electro producer from London), Thomas Fessler (producer of «Hecht»), Basil Kehl (singer & producer of «Dachs») and Dave Hofmann (THE mixing guru from Switzerland).

Besides a good songwriting and a good vocal performance, it was very important to me to create a unique sound design.

Let me break it down to this: In every note and every sound, in every line and every melody you will find a whole lot of «Shem». My music has never been so personal!

I Need You!

Although home production is not as expensive as a studio production, there are still a lot of costs involved (software & licenses, plug-ins, studio equipment, co-producers, consulting, translations, mixing, mastering and more). My initial plan was to finance the production costs with the income from concerts. But the Corona crisis put an end to that. Since I can’t make any money due to the official ban on events (and I’m working without a label), I need your support!

The collective amount of CHF 20’000 will only count if we completely reach (or even better exceed) the amount. We have 48 days to do this! But hey, this is not a regular donation. You will receive something in return! On the right side of this page you can select a contribution amount (or several) from the list (in green). In return you will get a «reward». That can be a signed CD of my new album or a concert in your living room etc. Have a look for yourself and choose a reward that suits you. Of course you may also pay an amount at your discretion without getting a «reward», if that’s what you want (very bottom of the list).

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

My first single «Do It» will be released on September 18th, 2020. After that more singles will follow until the album «8» will be released in Autumn 2021.