Tourist

Operating out of London, electronic musician and songwriter William Phillips crafts wistful, aching dance music as Tourist. Early on recognized for his chillwave productions, he moved into brighter, faster territory beginning with the 2013 Tonight EP. He earned a co-writing credit on Sam Smith’s Grammy-winning single “Stay with Me,” then delivered his first full-length album, U, in 2016. Two further releases followed in 2019—the club-focused Everyday and the more exploratory Wild. He has sustained his signature lush, tuneful electronic sound across the later albums Inside Out (2022) and Memory Morning (2024).

Phillips first drew attention in 2010 under the name Little Loud, when his remixes for acts including Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and HEALTH spread across the internet and earned coverage from outlets such as Pitchfork. He introduced the Tourist alias in 2012 via a self-titled EP—sometimes called Placid Acid—issued on Make Mine, the same label that had put out an early Disclosure single. Although the EP’s bright, ’80s-tinged synth lines and unhurried pace aligned with chillwave, subsequent Tourist material shifted toward a moodier, more emotionally resonant direction.

The Monday label released the Tonight EP in 2013, signaling a clear pivot toward U.K. garage and house textures built around fragmented vocal chops and sharper hooks. High-profile remixes for Chvrches and Haim appeared around this time, and 2014 brought the Patterns EP on Disclosure’s Method Records. That project featured Lianne La Havas and Will Heard, along with the track “Together,” and became Phillips’ most widely praised release to date. He also co-wrote Sam Smith’s chart-topping “Stay with Me,” which received the 2015 Grammy for Song of the Year. Additional Tourist singles emerged alongside joint work with Years & Years and with Josef Salvat & Niia, plus a co-writing contribution to Låpsley’s “Hurt Me.”

Tourist’s debut album, U—shaped by the conclusion of a four-year relationship—came out on Monday in 2016. Phillips resurfaced in 2017 for the collaborative single “We Stayed Up All Night” with Ardyn. Three further singles—“Hearts,” “Apollo,” and “Someone Else”—followed in 2018. The year 2019 saw two full-length projects: the more dance-oriented Everyday and the atmospheric Wild. Anthony Naples and Mary Lattimore appeared on the 2020 EP Wild (Reworks). That same year also yielded the tracks “Last” (with the Range) and “Siren.” The warm, hopeful Inside Out arrived in 2022, after which Tourist issued the single “Howl” with Elderbrook. His fifth album, the reflective and atmospheric Memory Morning, surfaced in 2024.