Swansea singer-songwriter Tom Emlyn has slipped another quietly dazzling song into the world. “A Series of Misunderstandings,” out now via Dirty Carrot Records, is the third single lifted from his forthcoming album — due this summer — and it finds the self-described “peripatetic musical genius” (a tag courtesy of BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton) in typically sharp, subtly psychedelic form.

Written more than a decade ago and only now finding its moment, the track is a meditation on the slow shapeshift of the self — how disappointments, miscommunications and the everyday humdrum can quietly rearrange who we are. Emlyn turns that weary terrain into something warm and literate, channelling the hushed charm of Kings of Convenience and the bruised elegance of Elliott Smith’s XO without ever sounding like a tribute act.

The arrangement is where the song really opens up. Evan Davies adds lush slide guitar and — in a stroke of inspired strangeness — plays banjo with a violin bow. The closing solo was nailed in a single take, coaxed from a brittle Hank Marvin-style Stratocaster tone running through a proper spring reverb tank. It’s the sound of a songwriter who knows exactly when to let the room breathe.

Emlyn has been on a remarkable run, releasing five albums between 2022 and 2025 and earning the title of “Wales’ most prolific musician” from God Is In The TV. He moonlights in Cardiff bands Rainyday Rainbow and Papa Jupe’s TC, and has shared stages with Gruff Rhys, Charlotte Church, Gwenno, Dafydd Iwan and The Levellers. For fans of Elliott Smith, George Harrison and Bob Dylan, this one’s essential listening.

Stream “A Series of Misunderstandings” on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/bdy7xs3m

Catch Tom Emlyn live in 2026:

May 23 — Devauden Festival
May 30 — Phyllis Maud, Newport
June 2 — NewFoundry, Brecon
June 13 — Cafe Kino, Bristol
June 20 — Wynnstay, Machynlleth
June 26 — Stori Beers, Bala
June 27 — Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow
July 12 — The Glad, London
August 1 — CWRW, Carmarthen
August 28 — Aberjazz, Fishguard

Press play, then get a ticket. You’ll thank yourself later.