Moving on? I make music you can move to
The shy singer faces his own fragilities in his third album and finds a new groove...
James Vincent McMorrow
On the face of it, James Vincent McMorrow fits the bill of the introverted singer-songwriter. He wields an acoustic guitar like a protective shield; his beard helps to partially obscure any distracting facial expressions while he sings. And if he isn’t in a checked-shirt then you can bet there are a few drying on the clothes line.
Luckily, in person, the Malahide, Co. Dublin, native is more talkative than the stage persona would suggest. With his third album We Move predicted to top this week’s Irish charts and his biggest Irish indoor show to come at Dublin’s National Stadium, he has much to talk about. It is ironic he is most articulate when talking about how his constant battle to overcome his own shyness has nourished his career.
‘When I was young, I knew I wanted to pursue music but it was an abstract notion, I wasn’t very confident so I kept the ambition to myself,’ he says. ‘I used to look up to other musicians and think it would be amazing if I could do that. I shook myself up and just said to myself I can do that, so why am I not doing it? I gradually became comfortable with the notion of walking out on the high wire, if you like, and saying to myself this is what I want to say and how I want to say it.
‘I made the first album (Early In The Morning) in a hut with an acoustic guitar and a tape machine so I was categorised as a folk musician and when you’re shy, you’re not going to shout “You’re wrong!”’
On his second album, Post Tropical, 33-year-old McMorrow found a definite groove and the combination of beats, synths and that remarkable falsetto brought comparisons with James Blake. McMorrow contends his desire was to make an album that sounded like Neil Young as produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo). ‘On my second record I got close to what I wanted to do but then I ran back to my safe space,’ he says.
‘When I try something I start theorising about what this imagined abstract listener might think. This time I said f*** it; we are going to do what moves us physically but emotionally as well.
‘I surrounded myself with people whose musical tastes were eerily similar to my own. As I’ve said, people as diverse as Neil Young and the Neptunes are guiding lights for me so if I meet musicians who don’t appreci- ate them then I can’t share their energy or space.
‘You can definitely dance to this album I think. I just like a groove.’
Though reticent about talking about the meaning of lyrics, he says the theme of this album, as the title suggests, is one of moving on and he says he addressed his own ‘mental fragilities’ in his music for the first time.
‘I have kept some of my mental shortcomings away from my work. I wanted to control the person that people see,’ he says. ‘But it dawned on me I am not saying anything that runs parallel to my life. I think I was making music that was open to interpretation and that people can ascribe to in their own lives.
‘I am not someone who is wellbuilt for this musical world; I struggle to get up sometimes, to leave the house for a pint of milk. But I feel OK about my fragilities and I thought I maybe want to write a record expressing that.’
McMorrow enjoyed the lifestyle that came with his first flush of success but now he says for the longevity of his career, he has, for now at least, consigned the hedonism to the memory bank. ‘The idea of the album is one of moving and changing. I stopped drinking and that changed my life,’ he says. ‘I stayed in; it pushed me back socially but it made me more centred and a lot less difficult to be around. I have about 20 people around me who rely on the success of my career for a living and I had to ensure I was responsible within my life to ensure that situation continues.’
He plays The Black Box, Galway, on October 5 and The National Stadium on October 7.
We Move is out now on Faction Records