Contrary to conventional practices, James Vincent McMorrow prefers to tread his own path. While his career ventures on a trajectory that deviates from the conventional, especially during his time signed with a reputable label making significant progress in territories including the US and Australia, he has managed to assert some level of command over his fate. McMorrow’s unorthodox methods can be seen in his surprise release of albums such as 2017’s ‘True Care’ and unforeseen partnerships with artists like Rudimental, Kygo, and producer Kenny Beats.
The much-anticipated album, ‘Heavyweight Champion of Dublin 8’, proposed as a sequel to 2022’s ‘The Less I Knew’, has not emerged yet. Instead, a new experiment has made its way into McMorrow’s repertoire, inspired by two device-free performances at Dublin’s National Concert Hall last year. These performances enabled him to understand and appreciate both the sparkling moments and the imperfections in his music while recording for his seventh studio album.
The passion that fuels McMorrow’s music creation, intertwined with recently solidified perception of the process, has given the songs a unique touch. The raw vulnerability of tracks like ‘Never Gone’, despite the questioning lyrics, exudes warmth due to the soul-lifting harmonies that are quintessentially McMorrow. The tracks ‘Things We Tell Ourselves’ and ‘Day All the Lights Went Out’ lay bare his emotions. He exposes a delicate side where he apologises for his seeming distant attitude and admits to his inability to deal with being seen crying.
The new album has a daring musical approach, integrating mischievously inventive tunes that unite elements of electronic music and the banjo in the track ‘Look Up!!!’. The album’s self-titled piece transports listeners to the mellow shades of 1970’s MOR, accompanied by the melancholic cry of the lap steel guitar. Featuring a guest performance by McMorrow’s five-year-old daughter, ‘Give Up’ strikes a fine balance, capturing the listener’s attention with its effortless charm. The restless handclapping rhythms of ‘Things We Tell Ourselves’ inject the album with a sense of restless dynamism.
Within the tracklist, you’ll find several minimalist pieces like ‘White Out’, embrued with a rugged grace, and the gently strummed ‘Stay Cool’, which narrowly avoids sounding too similar to some of Damien Rice’s more prosaic works. Despite the appealing simplicity of these stripped-down acoustic songs, McMorrow’s true skills shine brightest in the tracks that allow his imagination to soar, diving headlong into surprising terrain and consistently locating a steady rhythm after an initially unsettled start.
Listening to the album, it becomes apparent that McMorrow has undergone a major evolution in both his personal outlook and musical approach over the past few years. Indeed, whatever he’s been doing, the results speak for themselves – it’s clearly a winning formula.