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James Vincent McMorrow Interview | Post Tropical

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james-vincent-mcmorrowJames Vincent McMorrow is a unique talent, he is able to capture the purest of emotions in a single song and leave you speechless with a myriad of emotions. McMorrow built a name for himself as a folk singer unintentionally with his stellar and vivid debut album Early In The Morning and subsequently has been labeled as a “folk” singer ever since. It is easy for people to classify artists in specific categories; it helps people make sense of the music and in turn creates a level of predictability. However, for the artists it can become quite limiting and James Vincent McMorrow is a man without limitations. Artists are constantly evolving personally and artistically and that is the case with McMorrow and what makes him so great. James Vincent McMorrow recognizes that one cannot remain stagnant and to grow is to evolve, evolve as an artist and experiment with your sound; and it’s clear that he is doing just that. McMorrow’s musical evolution is depicted through his two singles “Cavalier” and “Red Dust” and further through his forthcoming album Post Tropical. Post Tropical is a musical departure and an exploration of different sounds, within it we see McMorrow pull from various genres and tap into his love for hip hop, R&B and electronic music. At the end of the day all musical classifications cease to matter and diminish in the shadows and what comes forth in it’s place is one man’s clear vision and uncompromising honest talent. When James Vincent McMorrow sings, he does it with such emotion you feel it in every fiber of your being — you hear him tap into his falsetto and you hear purity and the clarity of the music, every click of the 808s, every bit of bass and key stroke of the piano.

We caught up with James just before his recent show in Toronto and we discussed the conception process of Post Tropical as well as musical inspirations, how he feels about musical classifications and a swell of other insightful topics. We developed insights behind the man with the spellbinding falsetto and creator of some of the most captivating songs you’ve probably every heard; and it was all one fascinating and enlightening experiences. Post Tropical is a musical departure and it is a most welcoming one, as the release date steadily approaches; we wait with increased anticipation of what musical bliss McMorrow will bring to the table.


VANSCENE: Early In the Morning and The Sparrow & the Wolf were more “folk” centered records and in interviews you’ve said that you kind of shifted from that sound on your upcoming release Post Tropical. Was this a conscious choice, did you want to do something different because I know you said your intention was never to be a folk singer, or to be that guy with the guitar. What was the process this time round?

JVM: Well, those kind of tags and labels, I find them quite redundant. Everybody has to label things. The folk music thing always baffled me, I never said anything about it at the time because I’m happy that people are at a show and if you think it’s folk I’m not going to correct you; who am I to say what something is and isn’t? I can understand the context of it these days, but with this record I didn’t give a shit, it wasn’t a conscious decision, I just wanted to make whatever came into my head – make something that I wanted to listen to. I love what the first record did for me and I was incredibly proud of it, but it was made with limited funds and I had no idea what I was doing, and with this record I knew what I was doing: I wanted to make something beautiful.

VANSCENE: I read somewhere that you said you re-recorded several parts of an N.E.R.D album and most people don’t know that you have a passion and love for hip hop & R&B, what made you want to take that risk and incorporate those different sounds in this record. How do you think people will perceive it after you’ve been labelled as a “folk singer” for so long?

JVm: I was prepared for a certain amount of negative response. There is a portion of people that listen to a record and want you to duplicate it, but I think that is a really tiny percentage – the majority of people are incredibly smart; we should really give people more credit. Your job as a musician and an artist is to put stuff out and do whatever you are compelled to do. When I put out the first single, I was expecting a certain amount of “wait what’s this?” But I think the majority of people were understanding of what it was and what it meant and excited about what might be coming next. On this record, I just took all the things that I love and put them in as I wanted to hear them. We recorded live horns for the record and I realized that I’ve gotten so used to listening to horns on trap records on Manny Fresh, I love that shit.

VANSCENE: When you wrote “Cavalier“, what would you regard as the conception point of something so emotive and musically powerful?

JVm: I never have any idea about the concept behind anything, I’m not good with stuff like that, my mind works kind of backwards. I actually didn’t play a note of that song for six months, I had it in my head, but I didn’t play a note of it because I wasn’t sure if it was right. I tend to build things slowly in my head and play it out loud. I don’t sit with a guitar and play ideas because my mind wanders too quickly. I had the song sitting for a while, I don’t know why or where it came from, but I knew that it was enough to kind of hang the record on because it felt substantial. I wrote the lyrics in a booth in Texas, literally the last week of recording and that was intended, I didn’t want to commit to anything lyrically until the record was on it’s feet sonically.

VANSCENE: Is there a reason you decided to release it as the single for the new record?

JVm: When we had meetings with the label about which song to release, we all agreed on “Cavalier” because it’s a very unique record and it’s important that you present it right from the go and say “this isn’t what you think it’s going to be, but hopefully you’ll understand it”. I always felt that it might resonate with people and travel strongly. There were times when people said I couldn’t get the song on radio because it was four and a half minutes long and I felt that we could. The reaction was what I hoped for – I think other people might have been scared about it, but that was the point, to do something scary.

VANSCENE: Your songs have been featured in number of North American TV shows and films. How do you see the media and the Internet playing a part in your success as an artist in the modern era?

JVm: It’s huge for me; I didn’t really have any access before. The one thing I had when I made the first record was a publishing deal, which was always potentially valuable. Once the record was delivered, there was always an avenue to do something, and that was always something I wanted to do, because you can’t walk onto radio or into peoples homes if you don’t have a label or money, so in the mean time I needed to be able to tour and build things up really slowly. Someone coming up to me and saying, “we can use two minutes of your song” was incredible for me because it put my music in so many peoples homes. The internet is like the wild west with music at the moment – I wouldn’t exist without the internet.

VANSCENE: You were one hundred percent hands on throughout the whole creative process of this record; and when you produced it you were more or less totally secluded, what was the creative process like for you in that atmosphere and in that kind of recluse setting?

JVm: It went from being very “workman like” to being what your typical ideas of what making a record would be like. On a production level I said “okay, I want this part to do this job” and I got out and brought in an engineer, which is something I never do – on the first record, I did everything myself – this record was different; I had more ambitious plans for it, so I needed someone and I finally got this guy named Ross, an Irish engineer, who’s got a strong analytic background. It was a really beautiful and kind of a crazy experience, and that’s what I wanted; I wanted to see if that gave the record something, and it did. It was one of those moments, because when you dream of making records, you don’t dream of making it in a room in Dublin, and I don’t mean that in a disingenuous way, because I love my studio and I love the fact that I am able to have it, but it’s comfortable and I wanted to do something ridiculous this time and see what happens with it.

VANSCENE: You wrote on your website that Post Tropical requires attention and engagement, that it seduces you toward hidden depths. Can you elaborate the meaning of that statement?

JVm: The record isn’t supposed to be difficult, but it’s not supposed to be easy either. The records that resonate the most with me are the records that pull you in and don’t give away everything because that’s boring. In life and in everything, things shouldn’t be given away so quickly because the life span will be short. I didn’t want to just put out content; I wanted to put out something that actually said something. I didn’t really play this record for anybody apart from people in our circle, but when I passed it on to people the reaction was “we don’t really know what this is, but it feels important” and that’s what I wanted, you’re not supposed to get it and like it when you first listen to it, you kind of have to come back and listen to it again and then everything becomes clear.


RED DUST MUSIC VIDEO:

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