James Vincent McMorrow

147

James was a drummer before switching to the lead-singer/song-writer role. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland- McMorrow started playing pubs & uploading his music to MySpace- all of which was well-received. For a taste of this time period, I would recommend the song "Like The River" which I believe best encapsulates this time period in McMorrow's early recording career. 2008 saw the release of The Sparrow and The Wolf E.P. After that, he held himself in a cabin to write songs, songs like "The Old Dark Machine," that would eventually become his 2011 debut album Early in the Morning. Think five-part harmony, acoustic guitars, and heart-wrenching & chillingly beautiful melodies. McMorrow would head to El Paso, TX and add some studio charm for his second album, 2014's Post Tropical. This was the album where I jumped on board as a fan and discovered this amazing Irish singer-songwriter. I was amazed by the beautiful vocals and melodies which captured a a beautiful kind-of sound; a pristine quiet. Post Tropical found McMorrow going from simple-guitar-folk to brighter arrangements, more electronic keyboards, & (my favorite) cymbals (CRASH)! And so much more: smooth harmonies! flourishing horns! Did I mention the crashing cymbals?! The strongest instrument, of course, is James' powerful & vibrant voice. 2016 brought his third album, We Move, which proved McMorrow's love (& debt) to the R&B and synth-pop world. Less than ten-months later he would release 2017's True Care, another ambitious, reverent record. An album so scatter-shot that you can't help but admire it. 2018 saw McMorrow welcoming the birth of his first child as well as releasing the single "Me And My Friends." His fifth album, 2021's Grapefruit Season, is set to be released Sept. 17th. McMorrow released the single "Paradise" in support of the project. As awesome as avocados...

It's...

James Vincent McMorrow

Comments

Elton John

93 Elton John Elton John The Elton Run is a great road-trip game: Using the radio’s scan and seek buttons, see how long you can keep a continuous streak of Elton hits rolling. It’s been proven possible to follow the Elton Run up I-95 from Virginia all the way to Boston. The hazard: One sixth of your listening will be devoted to “ Your Song ,” Elton’s most overplayed standard even though everybody is over it at this point (Sample lyrics: “If I was a sculptor / But then again, no,” I think we can all agree we don’t need to hear that cheesy line anymore.) But Elton has a staggering number of hits; At least one in the Top 40 every year from 1970 through 1995 (!). With his electric boots and mohair suits, he’s the prima of all donnas, sitting like a princess perched in his electric chair. He entertains by picking brains. He sells his soul by dropping names. And for all his camp flamboyance, he’s aged into the most beloved entertainer on earth. Elton’s got about a million compilatio...

Eels

91 EELS EELS After a couple of song-rich, keyboard-dominated albums released under the Man Called E moniker, Mark Everett morphed into the trio Eels with 1996’s [DreamWorks Records released] Beautiful Freak . At its best, the debut gave a trip-hop twist to the California singer/songwriter tradition; at its worst, it suggests one more bummed-out wise guy’s take on Beck’s collage-style rock. With a sense of humor that skews toward cynicism that’s alleviated occasionally by bouts of sincerity, Everett is not the likeliest subject to make a transcendent album about death. But he nearly pulls it off on 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues . The music is somber but not sedate, with bursts of saxophone, off-kilter orchestration, and outright noise evoking the turbulence beneath the deadpan vocals. The singer battles not only depression but also his penchant for irony, and his struggle to move beyond them makes for a fascinating if sometimes morbidly downcast listen. On 2000’s Daisies of the ...

Björk

28 Björk Björk If Billie Holiday is an American treasure, well, if you were to put that treasure underwater, froze it, thawed it out centuries into the future and doused some acid & baking soda on it, out of that treasure chest would come Björk. Originally gaining fame in her home of Iceland with her band, the Sugarcubes, Björk was bound to break solo & she did just that with 1993's Debut . Following that was 1995's Post , 97's Homogenic , 2001's Vespertine, 2004's Medúlla , 2007's Volta , 2011's Biophilia (the first album where I was truly a fan), 2015's Vulnicura and 2017's Utopia . There's a lot to unpack there... you can't skip her first three or four albums, they're all amazing. I like Volta just because it seems to be the loosest (and most fun) album she has. Vulnicura was her break up album, with Björk expressing that the album reflects her feelings before and after her breakup and the healing process. Her legacy...

Bands That I Like

Search This Blog