Tom Scott is making music in his 'final form'

After years of critically acclaimed music, Anyita is the very first album Tom Scott has wanted to put just his own name on.

The two-sided record, described as "a blend of ambient R&B, dream pop, jazzy and psychedelic folk and progressive soul", features a cast of 30 talented musicians, vocalists and beatmakers from Scott’s contact list.

"[Anyita] felt personal, but it felt like someone I was proud to be, finally. Like, I didn't have to hide behind the gimmicks of anything else," he tells RNZ’s Music 101.

Known for jazz-influenced hip hop infused with social and political commentary, Scott is a previous recipient of the Taite Music Prize.

In the past, he has recorded with the group Home Brew and as Avantdale Bowling Club, but the songs on Anyita represent a new level of self-confidence.

"I just came to a point where I was like, I'm ready to be my final form, maybe. Not to get too crazy with it, but just this album felt personal, but it felt like someone I was proud to be, finally. Like, I didn't have to hide behind the gimmicks of anything else.

"To present it like that is all good. Also, when people see me on the street now, they say, 'Tom Scott!', but back in the day they used to be like, ‘Home Brew!’"

It wasn't until he'd finished making Anyita that he realised it would be a Tom Scott album, he says.

"It kind of feels like who I am at this stage of my life, like a whole bunch of influences. And so yeah, I was happy to be like, yeah, this is my album, this is my name."

'Anyita' is a Sanskrit word meaning impermanence, and Scott says accepting the transitory nature of life - particularly the changing nature of love - helps him make sense of it all.

“I think we've lost the romanticism of love as it was presented to us in The Little Mermaid… I think we've grown out of that, and love is dead, that kind of love.

“So we've admitted that, and we've admitted that things change and become new things, and that love is hard and all of that.”

All of this is reflected musically on Anyita, Scott says.

“The chords change into the next song, and there's no silence. Just because I wanted that to reflect how love works. You go in and out of it, even if it's with the same partner.”

The need for hope is a thread that runs through the album, he says.

“I think hope is always on the borderline of delusion. You have to be a bit crazy to have hope, especially in times like this.

“Everyone wants to be cynical. Everyone wants to be doubtful, and there's good reason. I think maybe love is the last delusion left. It's the last thing that we still believe in.”

On Anyita, Scott lays bare his rawest emotions.

"This sounds so corny, but this was the most therapeutic record for me to make because I did have to confront a lot of things. You can hear the self-reflection. I hope so.”

Working through those emotions as an artist is a "privilege", he says.

"It's a blessing to be able to do it with music because we all want to be able to confess our sins. Most of us have to do it in therapy and pay 250 bucks an hour.”

On 1 November, Tom Scott will play one of the biggest shows of his career at the Civic Theatre in Auckland.

The Civic is the "final boss", he says.

"It's the most beautiful venue in the country, I reckon, so I had to do it."