Influenced by jazz, world music, house, and techno, Thoma is a project that grew out of a desire between producers and long-time friends Tristan de Liège and Benjamin Hill (Cuervo Cuervo, Invite the Infinite) to bring together their creative abilities and challenge themselves beyond their solo efforts. Their albums are composed and envisioned in a wide range of locations, each of which inform the aesthetic and sonic approach, from a small island near Vancouver in British Columbia to Detroit to Los Angeles to rural Oklahoma. The genre-defying duo constantly shifts their sonic palette, working with different synths, samplers, and instrumentalists for each project. 2021 saw the release of Ikiru via Audio Network, a remotely recorded album featuring rich string and woodwind arrangements, as well as guitar work from friend Fabiano do Nascimento.

In late 2022 Thoma released a reworked single for ‘Earth Breathes,’ including an ambient version that showcased a new sonic direction for the group. Thoma partnered in 2023 with Folded Music, curated by Asta Hiroki, for their album ‘Pictures of Infinity,’ inspired by childhood exploration and self-discovery.

Thoma returns in 2025 with a new album, Ondea, marking a return to dance-floor centric music with live percussion.

James Waterman (he/him/his) is a multifaceted percussionist, composer, songwriter, and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. James is devoted to the exploration of all areas of percussion and has extensively studied Western Classical solo repertoire, orchestral percussion, Arabic drumming, Trinidadian Steel Drums, jazz vibraphone, Cuban and Haitian folkloric percussion, drum set, Indian tabla and tala systems, and Brazilian percussion. He also traveled to Ghana where he studied gyil (Ghanaian xylophone) with master musician Bernard Woma, Ashanti Kete drumming, Ewe drumming and dancing, and performed as a lead drummer at the Dagbe Cultural Institute and Arts Centre.