A love song to a childhood state: Thomas Parrish explores his latest single, ‘Oh, Illinois’
The upcoming indie-folk artist Thomas Parrish released his latest single, Oh, Illinois on September 20th, “a song about growing up, nostalgia, regret and hope.”
For fans of Bon Iver, Noah Kahan and Phoebe Bridgers, Thomas’ music is emotional and complex, exploring themes of loss, reinvention, faith and nostalgia alongside soothing guitar melodies and dreamy vocals.
With a popularity that has grown in equal measure to his discography, Thomas is able to do what only the very best artists can: make his personal feelings into music that is timeless and universal.
We had the chance to speak to Thomas about his latest single, Oh, Illinois, discussing everything from his lyrical inspirations to standout childhood memories and his recent viral TikToks.
So, how was your summer and what have you been up to?
”I’ve been good - very busy! Alongside music, I’ve been applying to med school so that’s taken up a lot of my time but I’m done with that now and am working on my music. I’ve gotten back into trying to release every month because that was my goal this year.
The last two I released were The Flow and Oh, Illinois, and those are two really exciting songs because it feels like recently I’ve been finding my sound and the sound that I want to stick with. I’ve written like five songs within the last month which I’m getting ready to release and hope to have a big project towards the end of the year whether its an EP or some more singles!”
Before your latest track you released the singles, Impossible, it’s not the end & The Flow. Do those songs fit into an overarching story and if so, where is Oh, Illinois within that narrative?
“The way I release music and the flow of my music and how it kind of words is based on a vibe I’m trying to create based on the song. I’d say that Impossible and it’s not the end were like this trough where it went down and was a very chill vibe - meditative, almost. Then, The Flow and Oh, Illinois were a little more fast-paced and upbeat. I go through phases based on what I’m going through and life, which affects what my music sounds like.
As far as lyricism, there’s not a narrative with all my songs together but in the future, there probably will be because the songs that I’ve been working on are all being written about the same vibe, and that series starts with Oh, Illinois. It’s a nostalgic song about growing up and kind of a commentary on my life, which is what I want these next songs I’m working on to be, too.”
Following from that, tell us about what the song, Oh, Illinois means to you and how you were inspired to write it!
“I’ve always wanted to write a song about growing up and thinking back on my life, but I always wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t cliche, so I wrote it about growing up but wondering if the time I spent was spent correctly.
I originally started writing Oh, Illinois after I’d heard Sailor Song by Gigi Perez because I just love that song and it’s easily my song of 2024. I love the sound on that song and it gave me such a nostalgic feeling, so I took that and I tried to make Oh, Illinois based on that feeling I was having.
The song isn’t supposed to be sad and depressing or anything, but it’s about something that a lot of people understand and thought about when growing up. It’s like when you see one of those nostalgic TikToks that show you ‘Christmas from the 2000s’ and you think: how does that make you feel? Did you waste that feeling growing up? That’s what I tried to make it sound like.”
What was the process like of producing Oh, Illinois?
“I produced it out and did that entirely by myself, but you can hear a female voice in the background of the song which is my friend Katherine who’s a incredible singer. She came up with all the background vocals and I had it mastered by someone else, but I do all the production and instrumentals by myself.
I feel like that’s such a valuable thing to be able to do as an artist. It’s great to outsource your production and if you live in LA or Nashville you can meet in person with producers and really make sure that the song is what you want it to be, but to be able to have complete control over your creativity and know how to produce - when an artist asks if I have any advice for them - that’s what I’d say, to learn how to do that yourself.”
So, tell us more about the songwriting process and how you came up with the lyrics for Oh, Illinois!
“Oh, Illinois kind of just came together in one sitting. In general with my songwriting, the best songs come together in one 15-minute sitting because once I start a song, I just want to keep it going and see it through before the ideas get mixed up or don’t go together as well.
I always write the chords first, so I just messed around on my guitar in open D tuning. It’s my favourite tuning to play in because you can kind of put your fingers anywhere and it’ll make a chord. So, I came up with some chords I really liked and it has a similar strumming pattern to Sailor Song so that track really inspired the guitar part of Oh, Illinois.
The way I come up with lyrics is using my notes app on my phone and every once in a while I’ll think of a song idea and just fill it with all of these one-liner thoughts, even though some of them make zero sense. Then, because the chord progression has a mood based on what key it’s in or what it does, and I try to match that with one of my song ideas and start writing. That’s my process, and it’s become kind of a smooth-running machine but it’s never the smoothest process as something always needs to be fixed, but it always turns out the way I want it to.”
We especially loved the line: “I’m still a boy, but I wish the grass still felt good on my feet / but it doesn’t, and colour fades and the thunder never sounds the same.” Could you tell us more about it?
“That line does need some explaining, because it’s another one I wrote based on a TikTok. I saw a video where there were two slides: one was super saturated and colourful, and then it scrolls to the actual picture. It feels like ‘this is what life felt like when we were just 8-years-old and messing around’ and ‘this is what life looks like now’. That’s what the reference to colours fading is about.
The second part of that line is about moving out to LA, because there’s no thunderstorms out here and that’s one of my favourite things to write about because I miss thunderstorms - and Illinois always has them.”
In the song, were you purposefully personifying Illinois, or is that just another layer of the sort of love song that you have with the place?
“It wasn’t on purpose, but that’s a really cool take on it. It’s like I’m talking to the state, and it definitely could be because it’s a love song to Illinois. This time it was unintentional, but what I like to do with my music is to write about something specific to me but keep the lyrics vague enough so that listeners can apply their own meaning to it.
Another example of that is my song, it’s not the end, because I wrote it about my personal faith and if it was okay to be doubting it, but the song can be about anything: death, a family member, a career or life change or a breakup. That’s something I like to do, because it helps more people connect with my music. If you’re too specific, that can be a negative thing - and not everyone is from Illinois and will understand that song from my viewpoint.”
How would you describe Illinois to someone who has never been there?
“It has its charms and it has its negatives, too. Its a state where when I lived there I thought ‘oh, this isn’t anything special’, but looking back I really loved it. It’s very flat, there are no hills or mountains or anything and it’s all farmland except for Chicago which is in the top right corner. I lived in a suburb of Chicago, which was like a mix of the two but then I went to school in the middle of the state where there was nothing around us. It was very peaceful especially if you went far out into the country, which some people might hate but I loved.”
In the lead-up to your latest release, you posted a lot of videos in the woods - were those in Illinois?
“No, those were out in California! I didn’t have the foresight to film anything there before I wrote this but the album cover was shot in Illinois in the middle of some corn fields near where I went to school.”
Do you have any childhood memories in Illinois that stick out to you as favourites?
“Like I said, thunderstorms were a big thing for me and I was a big weather nerd so every time there was a thunderstorm I’d look at the radio and check for tornado warnings and get all hyped up for them. The house I grew up in had a really big floor-to-ceiling front window, and I’d just sit there and watch the thunderstorms, which is a memory that I was definitely thinking of when writing Oh, Illinois.
There’s a lot of craziness growing up, but in Illinois there’s a lot of peace because there was always somewhere to go. I feel like I grew up in the perfect spot because there was the city, but also nothingness nearby where I could go and run, bike or hide. When writing the song, I was mainly thinking: ‘did I recognise how good that was?’
I live in LA now and I love it here - it’s beautiful - but it’s also crazy and there’s no escape from that so now that I’m here, I’ve just been thinking: ‘did I appreciate where I was?’ I think that can be applicable to any situation you’re in because it’s hard to realise what you have is so good until you don’t have it. It’s a big thing I’ve learned recently, and something that I think everyone realises at some point in their life.”
Since we last spoke, you had a viral moment on TikTok with a cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s track, ‘Please, Please, Please’. What’s it been like expanding your online audience and how have you been navigating new listeners towards your music?
“It’s been very interesting because obviously it’s really cool to go viral and stuff - I’ve interacted with artists like One Republic, who used my audio and reacted to it. My TikTok has been interesting lately because I’ve gotten a lot of traction and followers on there, but what I’m working on right now is figuring out how to convert that traction to my serious music.
Since the last time we talked, my listeners have gone up a lot but the disparity is crazy because I think that viral video has around 6 million views right now, but can you imagine if all of those people listened to my music? So, as fun as it has been to go viral, I’m figuring out how to use that to grow my career.”
Since you have so many new listeners, how would you describe your music to someone who might not have heard it yet?
“In person I say: ‘do you know who Noah Kahan is? I’m a chiller version of Noah Kahan.’ I always describe my biggest influences of Phoebe Bridgers, The Lumineers and Noah Kahan, say that I’m a combination of those three. That’s the best way to give people an idea of what your music is like - just to describe your influences.”
We then asked Thomas what songs he’s been listening to lately, and compiled them into a playlist for fans to enjoy:
Then, it was time for some silly questions…
If you were a plant, what kind would you be?
“I’d say a willow tree because they’re very mystical - they’re not the tallest or the biggest but they’re unique and cool.”
If you could only watch movies starring one actor for the rest of your life, what actor would you pick?
“My favourite actress is Amy Adams - she’s incredible. I’d say it’s between her and Matthew McConaughey because my two favourite movies are Interstellar and Arrival.”
If you were a type of pasta, what would you be?
“My favourite type of pasta is penne noodles and I’ve loved them since I was a kid, so I’d say penne!”
For our final question… what should fans expect from your upcoming releases?
“Like I said before, Oh, Illinois is the start of a project that will go through the fall and that’s been really cool to work on. There’s lots of songs that are ready to go for it so I’m really excited for them to be out!”
It definitely won’t be long until Thomas releases his next single, the beginning of which you can listen to on his Instagram:
And, as always, the rest of Thomas’ discography can be found on Spotify. For any newer fans out there, we’d recommend it’s not the end, there was something here once and, of course, Oh, Illinois!
