'Songs And Other Things' is TOM VERLAINE'S first vocal release since The Wonder in 1990. The return of his cool vibrato weaving in and out of his guitar lines is exciting. For this new vocal release, VERLAINE recorded with a variety of friends including Television bassist FRED SMITH. He wrote all the songs, played all the guitars and even spent some time on bass. Songs and other things finds VERLAINE's songwriting at its most colorful. According to Tom, "Lovebird asylum seeker" got its inspiration from a "picture of some friendly insects walking across a dusty desk and spelling out letters." The opening track is an instrumental, "like an introduction; what you hear at the beginning of a movie." For VERLAINE, the songwriting process is natural, with ebbs and flows that he makes sure not to force. "Sometimes you write a song in twenty minutes," VERLAINE says, while sometimes a song "looking to be agonized over never makes it to the studio." With 25 years in between this and VERLAINE's last vocal record, he has a lot of storytelling to catch up on, which makes every track here a true gem.