Biography
Thomas Bartlett channels his understated art pop sensibilities through the Doveman alias, where he serves as singer, songwriter, and keyboardist while maintaining parallel careers as a producer and sought-after session musician for figures such as David Byrne and the National. Although the project issued four albums from 2005 through 2009, the name later resurfaced on additional recordings that included remixes.
Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Bartlett launched the folk group Popcorn Behavior in 1993 with childhood friend Sam Amidon on fiddle and Sam’s younger brother Stefan Amidon on drums; the members ranged in age from ten to thirteen. The ensemble released three albums by 1999, after which Bartlett moved to London, England, to study piano with Maria Curcio. A year later he relocated to New York City and enrolled at Columbia University, but withdrew once he began performing with bands such as Chocolate Genius and Elysian Fields.
Sam Amidon joined Dougie Bowne, Jacob Danziger, and Peter Ecklund on The Acrobat, Bartlett’s debut Doveman album, which Swim Slowly Records released in July 2005 and which featured his hushed vocals over a moody blend of folk, jazz, classical, and ambient influences. The follow-up, With My Left Hand I Raise the Dead, appeared on Brassland in 2007 with largely the same personnel, minus Danziger and plus Shahzad Ismaily. One year afterward the third Doveman album, Footloose, reinterpreted selected songs from the 1984 film musical in the project’s characteristically subdued manner. The still intimate The Conformist arrived on Brassland in 2009 and enlisted nearly two dozen guests, among them Glen Hansard, Norah Jones, members of the National, members of the chamber ensemble yMusic, and returning contributors Amidon, Bowne, and Eckland. Bartlett supplied a Doveman remix to Tegan and Sara’s Alligator Remixes collection in 2010.
While those four Doveman albums were being made, Bartlett toured and recorded with the National, David Byrne, Hansard’s the Swell Season, and Antony and the Johnsons, among others. Valued by fellow musicians both as a singer and songwriter and as an accompanist, he appeared on subsequent recordings by Iron & Wine, Sharon Van Etten, and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few. Further appearances came in 2013 on albums by Yoko Ono, Joshua Bell, and the National. By then he had also begun producing for Bell X1 on Chop Chop, the Gloaming on The Gloaming, Dawn Landes on Bluebird, solo Hansard on Rhythm and Repose and Drive All Night, and Amidon on Bright Sunny South.
In January 2016 Bartlett marked the death of David Bowie with a Doveman cover of “Lazarus,” performed with Hansard supplying vocal harmonies. The next year a Doveman remix of Sufjan Stevens’ “Futile Devices” was included on the soundtrack to the Oscar winner Call Me by Your Name, and another Doveman remix appeared on Stevens’ The Greatest Gift mixtape. Nonesuch Records issued Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music in 2018, a collection of songs by Bartlett and composer Nico Muhly, whom he had met at Columbia; released under Bartlett’s own name, the album showcased his vocals alongside keyboard work from both musicians.
Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Bartlett launched the folk group Popcorn Behavior in 1993 with childhood friend Sam Amidon on fiddle and Sam’s younger brother Stefan Amidon on drums; the members ranged in age from ten to thirteen. The ensemble released three albums by 1999, after which Bartlett moved to London, England, to study piano with Maria Curcio. A year later he relocated to New York City and enrolled at Columbia University, but withdrew once he began performing with bands such as Chocolate Genius and Elysian Fields.
Sam Amidon joined Dougie Bowne, Jacob Danziger, and Peter Ecklund on The Acrobat, Bartlett’s debut Doveman album, which Swim Slowly Records released in July 2005 and which featured his hushed vocals over a moody blend of folk, jazz, classical, and ambient influences. The follow-up, With My Left Hand I Raise the Dead, appeared on Brassland in 2007 with largely the same personnel, minus Danziger and plus Shahzad Ismaily. One year afterward the third Doveman album, Footloose, reinterpreted selected songs from the 1984 film musical in the project’s characteristically subdued manner. The still intimate The Conformist arrived on Brassland in 2009 and enlisted nearly two dozen guests, among them Glen Hansard, Norah Jones, members of the National, members of the chamber ensemble yMusic, and returning contributors Amidon, Bowne, and Eckland. Bartlett supplied a Doveman remix to Tegan and Sara’s Alligator Remixes collection in 2010.
While those four Doveman albums were being made, Bartlett toured and recorded with the National, David Byrne, Hansard’s the Swell Season, and Antony and the Johnsons, among others. Valued by fellow musicians both as a singer and songwriter and as an accompanist, he appeared on subsequent recordings by Iron & Wine, Sharon Van Etten, and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few. Further appearances came in 2013 on albums by Yoko Ono, Joshua Bell, and the National. By then he had also begun producing for Bell X1 on Chop Chop, the Gloaming on The Gloaming, Dawn Landes on Bluebird, solo Hansard on Rhythm and Repose and Drive All Night, and Amidon on Bright Sunny South.
In January 2016 Bartlett marked the death of David Bowie with a Doveman cover of “Lazarus,” performed with Hansard supplying vocal harmonies. The next year a Doveman remix of Sufjan Stevens’ “Futile Devices” was included on the soundtrack to the Oscar winner Call Me by Your Name, and another Doveman remix appeared on Stevens’ The Greatest Gift mixtape. Nonesuch Records issued Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music in 2018, a collection of songs by Bartlett and composer Nico Muhly, whom he had met at Columbia; released under Bartlett’s own name, the album showcased his vocals alongside keyboard work from both musicians.
Albums
Singles
