'Farewell Rainy City' is an animation I made to accompany a song I wrote. The song appears on my debut album Silver Coins and White Feathers. This video is my latest major animated work.

In addition to yours truly and my regular band, the recording also features my friend Mikey Kenney (Band of Burns) on fiddle and C.J. Hillman (two-time winner UK Americana Award Instrumentalist of the Year) on pedal steel. As with all my studio output to date, the recording was produced and engineered by my friend Biff Roxby - co-founder of both Debt Records and WR Audio, Honeyfeet trombonist and who, as a musician and recording engineer, has worked with Elbow, BC Camplight, Louis Barabbas and Liz Green amongst many others.

The animation follows the route of the world's first intercity passenger railway - the Liverpool and Manchester Railway - and also shows John Greenwood's omnibus, the first scheduled bus service in the UK. Although well-researched and historically accurate - the animation has been praised by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Trust for its attention to detail and overall accuracy - it also allows a hefty amount of artistic licence, creating a beautiful journey for fans of music and animation. It draws inspiration from contemporary illustrations of the railway by T.T. Bury and H. West among many other influences, old and new alike - L.S. Lowry's artwork, the video games Limbo and Civilization VI, J.M.W. Turner's Rain, Steam, and Speed and William Wyld's Manchester from Kersal Moor.

I know that the song can come across as bitter and cynical - I've questioned myself about my choice of lyrics a lot since it was released.

Six years ago, at the age of 26, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. I often felt invisible and isolated in Manchester - experiences which are common for people who, like me, are on the autistic spectrum. I moved to Bristol exactly two years ago this month, which I have found to be a creatively vibrant and open-minded city. There's nowhere else quite like it in England and it's a really exciting place to be right now.

I would like to see a world in which autistic people thrive, not one in which they are left behind.

About the artist

"Unassuming, unusual and enigmatic, T.E. Yates is a multi-disciplinary artist of rare and disarming qualities that must be seen and heard to be believed.” Louis Barabbas, Debt Records

I am a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, artist, illustrator and award-nominated animator. Born in Manchester, raised in Wigan, based in Bristol.
My debut EP “Possessed” was released on Debt Records in 2013. My first full LP, entitled “Silver Coins And White Feathers” and produced by Biff Roxby, was released on Debt Records in May 2017. My first completed animated work 'Evil Cat' - a faithful adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat synchronised to the music of the song from debut EP Possessed - was shortlisted for Best Music Video at the 2016 British Animation Awards.

'Farewell Rainy City' has, so far this year, made the official selections for the Chester Animation Festival (UK), Florida Animation Festival (USA), New York Animation Film Awards (USA) and Overmountain Animation Festival (USA).

Animated music videos and lyric videos I have made for other artists have been included on the likes of Kerrang! and Classic Rock Magazine. My first single 'A Friend In Need' was selected by the BBC for airplay on Radio 6 Music and Radio Manchester. A couple of years ago, one of my songs, 'April', made the iTunes Alternative Charts Top 100 in Switzerland.

I have performed at a small number of music festivals, including Kendal Calling. Over the years I have opened for acts including Trembling Bells, John Otway, The Blockheads, Merry Hell, Nick Harper, Gideon Conn, Honeyfeet, Alabaster dePlume, Snowapple and Vinny Peculiar amongst many others. On one occasion, I performed some of Daniel Johnston's songs before the man himself at Manchester's Night & Day.

A skilled fine artist (specialising in hybrid graphite and charcoal pencil drawings) and accomplished digital illustrator, I occasionally receive commissions.

Links

You can follow T.E. on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Check out his Youtube and Vimeo or visit his music streaming on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Buy his music on Bandcamp or his art on Etsy.

Find his website here.