A THOUSAND MAD THINGS Debut single is a propulsive, soaring mission statement from a must watch artist
April 23, 2025 BY Bailey Vigliaturo
Nettwerk is pleased to announce the release of the first ever single of London based cold wave and dark pop artist, A Thousand Mad Things.
On his stellar debut ‘Wide Awake’ – a propulsive synth number that moves from claustrophobic pulses to soaring climax – he unburdens himself of his insomniation and guilt.
“I think it’s just about trying to survive and keep calm and stable for people around you whilst you’re under the cosh” he continues. “You don’t want to be this source of high emotion all the time; sometimes you just want life to be easy, which is hard when it isn’t in your nature. This track is an outburst for when you’re trying to keep control.”
Inspired by the greats of ‘80s synth pop and cold wave – an era that married pleasure and pain, making chart-bothering stars out of life’s tortured outsiders – the music that William Barradale makes as A Thousand Mad Things finds similar solace in untempered expression.
The project itself began in 2023 when a mutual friend approached him with an immediately inspiring set of ideas. “We really wanted to do something like Billy Mackenzie from The Associates and I loved that idea” he explains. “That twisted, operatic drama that he had, he’s so exposed at the same time. Billy is a huge inspiration for me”
Barradale’s own voice treads a similar line of resonant, evocative melodrama. Across the six songs that now form A Thousand Mad Things’ self-titled debut EP, it’s both his greatest asset and his most singular quality. “Singing like this, it’s like I can utilise my diaphragm better,” he nods. “It’s my body’s way of telling me that I’m doing something right.”
Melodrama, in itself, is crucial to A Thousand Mad Things. It’s the quality that makes his first EP soar into great heights that have already earned him a slot supporting childhood heroes The Human League on 23rd July in Brighton later this summer. And it’s the thing that adds a knowingness and levity to these tales, so often plucked from places of trauma and pain. For him it’s about finding the sweet spot in between it all.
Live dates:
4th May – Liverpool Sound City – 5:30pm @ EBGB’s
16th May – The Great Escape – 8:30pm @ Daltons
23rd July – On the Beach – Brighton Beach with The Human League
