aaamusic | On 05, Jan 2011

Dublin’s James Vincent McMorrow will release his debut album, ‘Early In The Morning’, on March 28^th, via Believe Digital in the UK and Vagrant Records in the US (The Hold Steady, Edward Sharpe, School of Seven Bells). It will be preceded by the release of his first single, ‘Sparrow & The Wolf’, on March 14^th. The album has already had number 1 success in his native Ireland, and received a significant amount of critical acclaim (‘one of the first truly great albums of the decade’, wrote The Dubliner). Now, following extensive touring in America, and preliminary shows at the likes of The Old Queen’s Head and Camden’s Koko, James will bring his beautiful live show to England in the new year. Early radio support, meanwhile, has come from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, XFM and Radio 2.

­

James Vincent McMorrow’s musical life began far removed from the haunting folk and mythic imagery of his debut output. His early love was hardcore rock, and he spent his teens learning to play drums to the likes of Refused, At The Drive In and Glassjaw. It wasn’t until he heard Donny Hathaway’s ‘I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know’ that he even considered singing, and because of the high, soulful tone to his voice, James found particular encouragement from female singer/songwriters. “I can understand the way they construct melody almost better than I can the way male singers write,” James notes. “But it wasn’t until about four years ago that I actually wrote my first song. I knew I needed to have things worth talking about before I put pen to paper.”

‘Early In The Morning’, then, is the result of a self-education, and the time James spent learning his craft. Having begun to write songs, he quickly sought somewhat surprising inspiration in the hip hop production of acts such as The Neptunes and Timbaland. James then spent three years experimenting with sounds and learning how to make music, and only then did he take this newfound knowledge into an isolated house by the Irish Sea, intent on making a record. One of the first fruits of this six-month labour was ‘If I Had A Boat’: an eerie and emotive introduction to the album, which began life as just a title, but soon started to marry an array of influences. Throughout the record, you can hear the overtones of his Irish upbringing brought together with these traditionally more American, West Coast sounds (see also the relentless ‘Sparrow & The Wolf’, or the instantly-catchy ‘This Old Dark Machine’).As an album, ‘Early In The Morning’ is an atmospheric and absorbing listen, which peels back layers upon every visit. It can be musically sweet and lyrically maudlin by equal measure (note the “you can stop your crying, I’m never coming back” opening to the relatively upbeat ‘Breaking Hearts’). The unusual influence of those great female singers also makes an emotional mark (‘We Don’t Eat’ wouldn’t feel out of place on a Billie Holiday collection). And though the album’s conception will inevitably draw comparisons with Bon Iver and his cabin, the record bears closer inspiration from the likes of John Steinbeck, F Scott Fitzgerald or Roald Dahl: writers who examined, in McMorrow’s words, “the darker, less spoken about aspects of life, solitude and disillusionment. The characters I create in those songs, the ones existing in the shadows…they’re all elements of me, for sure.” This is perhaps best demonstrated on ‘From The Woods!!’, towards the record’s end, which builds, fades and then positively erupts into a dramatic musical conclusion. The album closes just as it started, on the bucolic five-part harmony of ‘Early In The Morning, I’ll Come Calling’.

James Vincent McMorrow has taken a somewhat circuitous route to success (hardcore rock, hip hop, a house by the Irish Sea and a growing love of folk). Yet he has emerged as a quite brilliant new talent.