Ian Randall Thornton Shares “Send Somebody” In Advance of ‘Wide Open’ Release

Ian Randall Thornton, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and composer from Norfolk (VA) shares his single, “Send Somebody” exclusively with American Songwriter. 

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“Send Somebody” is the third single off of his sophomore full-length album, ‘Wide Open’, set to drop February 28th via AntiFraglie.  “Send Somebody” was the first song Thornton wrote on this album and he described this track as a “gateway” to navigate the remainder of the record. 

“I was honestly struggling to write songs at that time of my life,” he said, adding that he found the block was the immense pressure he was putting on himself to write the perfect song and say something profound. His solution, he shared, was to write songs he never intended for anyone to hear. 

“I picked up my guitar, changed to a new tuning, looped a guitar line on my computer, and began layering different instruments and vocal swells,” he said. 

It was in that time that he felt his self-constructed pressure fall to the wayside as he continued to create.  

“In the process, something interesting started to happen,” he explained. “It inverted my songwriting process entirely.” 

Thornton stepped off of his routine path of taking songs he wrote on his guitar into the studio to record and started blindly creating.  “This allowed the production and the song itself to influence me and tell me what it wanted to be and say,” he said.   

The experimental process of writing “Send Somebody” laid the foundation for the entire record. ”The theme of ‘Wide Open’ is peace and finding serenity through the humble act of letting go of control,” he said. “So, as I approached writing the rest of the album, I decided to abandon my typical songwriting approach for this newfound open-handed method of writing.” 

The progressive instrumentation found throughout the album departs slightly from his folk-Americana roots. The introduction of new technique transcends his genre into more of a post-rock sphere. The focus of his storytelling shifts from a narrative style found in his first LP, ‘Lineage’, about who he is in terms of place and kin. ‘Wide Open’ tells a more honest, reflective story that explores who he is as an artist and individual. 

“Send Somebody” embodies this shift in style. The layered strings and serene vocals emanate the theme of peace Thorton carried through the record. The lyrics command the listener through analogy. “We can often be more interested in the surface things that surround us than the actual understanding of the overwhelming depth that lies within us,” expressed Thorton. 

He questions why we know far more about the surface of Mars looks like than what lies in the depths of our ocean. The song says it like this:  

“Under the world / Burning marrow / We build on her bones / And live on her loans 

/ All we could know is mostly unknown.”

“Under the sea / Send somebody / Discover the deep/ Wake where you sleep.”

The lyrics compare humanity to these scientific facts to make a statement about exploration.  “Send Somebody isn’t a social critique as much as it is a personal encouragement to search out and explore the unknown within yourself,” he explained.  

Keep an eye out for the release of his album, Wide Open, on February 28th, if you like what you hear, the album pre-order via Bandcamp is available! 


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