Stream: James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning

Noticed this embeddable album stream over on Nialler9 during my daily browse of Ireland's best music blogs. He says that this album went under his radar, and a little birdy told me that it was because of yours truly that it did find its way onto said radar. Now whether that is true or not, only Niall himself knows. Either way, you can stream the entire debut album from James Vincent McMorrow, Early in the Morning, below. It's my favourite Irish album of the year, and I cannot praise it enough.

Latest tracks by jvmcmorrow

Live: Cathy Davey, JVMcM at Electric Picnic 2010

Thanks to Jim Carroll's On the Record for the heads up with this one. A lot of new names have been added to the Electric Picnic 2010 lineup, including two fantastic Irish acts: Cathy Davey (who topped the charts just two weeks ago with The Nameless) and upcoming sensation James Vincent McMorrow. There was also other local and international acts announced, with Foals a must-see on the bill.

New additions to the lineup:
Foals
Dam-Funk
Cathy Davey
These New Puritans
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Beardyman
Archie Bronson Outfit
Philip Selway
James Vincent McMorrow
And So I Watch You From Afar
Goodtime John
UNKLE
The Mighty Stef

Live: James Vincent McMorrow Irish Tour

I had already announced James Vincent McMorrow's headline date at Whelan's, but the brilliant upcoming singer-songwriter has announced a lot of new dates around the country for the month of June.

Tour Dates:
Wed 9th June: THE PAVILION, Cork
Thurs 10th June: SPIRIT STORE, Dundalk
Fri 11th June: ROISIN DUBH, Galway
Thurs 17th June: WHELAN'S, Dublin
Fri 18th June: THE SKY & THE GROUND, Wexford
Sat 19th June: INEC (Acoustic Room), Kerry

Tickets for all the shows are on sale now.

Watch James Vincent McMorrow 'I Will Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree':

Live: James Vincent McMorrow at Whelan's

After a string of dates around the country, as well as his support of Rain Machine this weekend, James Vincent McMorrow has announced a headline gig at Whelan's this June. The excellent singer-songwriter (who I ranked #3 in the 50 Best Irish Acts Today) released his self-titled debut album to great acclaim last month.

He'll be playing Whelan's on June 17th, with tickets priced €13.50 on sale tomorrow.

Watch JVMcM on the View:

List: 50 Best Irish Acts Today - 10-01

Part Five, and the final part of my countdown of the Best 50 Irish Acts today. The only requirement for entry is that the artist must have played live or released something in the past twelve months.

Read the rest of the list:
50-41
40-31
30-21
20-11

10. Mick Flannery
'Tomorrow's Paper' from Corkonian Mick Flannery's second album 'White Lies' is about as good a singer-songwriter classic as you're likely to hear. In fact that whole album is utterly brilliant. A vast improvement on his debut Evening Train, he's an artist who keeps going from strength to strength. He tours endlessly around the country too, so be sure to catch him when and if you can.



9. Adrian Crowley
Winner of this year's Choice Music Prize, Adrian Crowley is finally getting the adoration he deserves. His first album came out way back in 1999, but it seems like the 2010s will be his decade. My own favourite artist Ryan Adams loves him, and if that's not praise, he's due to appear high up on the bill at Electric Picnic 2010 as one of Ireland's biggest names.



8. The Swell Season/The Frames/Glen Hansard
These are all lumped in together as they're whatever Glen Hansard decides to do after polishing his Oscar when he wakes up in the morning. He's focused mainly on the Swell Season in the past few years, but with the Frames still gigging (and also set to play this year's Electric Picnic), there would be no better time than 2010 for some new material from Ireland's greatest rock band. Until that happens, however, we still have Glen and Marketa churning out gorgeous duets, as well as reissues of the Frames' breakout albums to keep us going.



7. The Holy Roman Army
Fellow Carlovians, the Holy Roman Army appeared on the scene last year with their amazing electronic record How the Light Gets In. Their song 'Stagger Gently Home' was a captivating track, and after appearing on Nialler9's MAP gained attention all over the world. They are similarly amazing live, and have really honed their live act since I first saw them early last year. They've also followed up that debut album with a fantastic covers EP, Desecrations, which can be downloaded for free here.



6. Oliver 'Ollie' Cole
Ollie Cole is best known for being the frontman in Irish pop-rockers Turn. They made some incredible albums during their time together, with Forward being the standout. However, on his own, Cole is proving to be even better. He released his debut solo album We Albatri last month, and is one of the country's most charming live performers.



5. The Chapters
The Chapters are a bunch of the most down-to-earth musicians in Irish music. After a rocky start with label bankruptcy and the like, the band finally signed with 3ú, who unleashed 'Videotapes' on the world last summer. Since then, the band has been engulfed in success, releasing the fantastic debut album Perfect Stranger, and going on to appear on radio on TV both here and across the pond. They're set to be one of the biggest draws at this year's Indie-pendence on the August Bank Holiday weekend.



4. The Divine Comedy/The Duckworth Lewis Method/Neil Hannon
Like the Frames and the Swell Season for Glen Hansard, these two bands are Neil Hannon's babies. In 2009, Hannon joined forces with Pugwash's Thomas Walsh to record the greatest ever Irish concept album - about a fundamentally British game. It was one of the year's most captivating and charming albums, featuring the utterly brilliant 'Jiggery Pokery'. 2010 sees Hannon back in his old work clothes, with the Divine Comedy due to release their tenth album Bang Goes the Knighthood on May 31st.



3. James Vincent McMorrow
In my review of James Vincent McMorrow's recent debut album Early in the Morning, I called it "the best album to come out of Ireland in a decade". Yes, it's that damn good. The songs from it have been used in an advert for Barnardos as well as on hit US television shows Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. However, this is only the start for McMorrow, who will definitely be the breakout Irish star of 2010.



2. Bell x1
Bell x1 are my favourite live band. Any chance I can get to see them, I take it. Paul Noonan is a fantastic entertainer, and the band are always on form together. The public knows this too, and they easily could have played 365 days at the Olympia or Vicar Street last year. They've come a long way since the days of Juniper, and release wonderful singles as well as enchanting albums. They've also gained a huge following in the US, where they've appeared on primetime television shows - including many great live performances.



1. Fight Like Apes
A bizarre bunch of folks, fronted by the brilliant vocalist MayKay, Fight Like Apes released one of the most-anticipated Irish albums of the 00s, And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion to much fanfare in 2008. It was every bit as good as expected, and was released worldwide last year. Their live show is even better, playing festivals all over Europe last summer, including a standout performance at Glastonbury. They represented Ireland at the Eurosonic Festival last January, which has just been released as the free album Live at Eurosonic. Download that fantastic set here. Ireland's greatest act right now.

Live: CastlePalooza 2010 Lineup announced

The lineup for Offaly's Boutique Festival Castle Palooza was announced yesterday with some great acts set to appear. The biggest draw for the two day event is Mercury Rev, but among the local names highlights are Fionn Regan, Codes, James Vincent McMorrow, O Emperor, and the Cast of Cheers. However, the full lineup itself looks amazing.

The festival takes place the weekend of July 31st and August 1st. Tickets are on sale now at the price of €99, and it'll be attended by 3000 revellers this year rather than the usual 1000.

Lineup:
Mercury Rev
Fionn Regan
Wave Machines
Lonelady
Codes
Taylor McFerrin
Cashier No 9
Adebisi Shank
Tu-Ki
James Vincent McMorrow
O Emperor
Robotbik
Funeral Suits
The Cast Of Cheers
The Lowly Knights
Readers Wives
The Blue Choir
Sarsparilla
Yes Cadets
Nakatomi Towers

Live: Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival Lineup

Thanks to Peter at 2uibestow for reminding me to check out the full listings for the Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival. There are some fantastic acts playing the last weekend of April at various venues all around the city, including Josh Ritter, Caitlin Rose, Joe Pug, James Vincent McMorrow, and most importantly (for me anyway), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

American/UK acts:
Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band
The Duke and The King
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Jason & The Scorchers
The Band Of Heathens
Hot Club Of Cowtown
Chris Smither
Pete Molinari
Dex Romweber Duo
Joe Pug
Uncle Monk
Caitlin Rose
Elvis Fontenot & The Sugarbees

Irish acts:
James Vincent McMorrow
Clive Barnes
Ben Reel Band
Raglan Rodeo
The Rye
David Hope & The Henchmen
River Valley Band
Swingin' Blue Cats
Jezzebelle
Loudest Whisper
Rumbleshack
Tupelo
KJ McEvoy Band
TV Jones and The Tomahawks
Louisiana Joyride
Memphis Cats
Road Trouble
Niall Toner Band
The Sullivan Brothers
Beef Supreme

Check out the full line-up, as well as gig dates and ticket prices here:
http://www.kilkennyroots.com/gigs.asp

Interview: James Vincent McMorrow

Superb Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow has just released his debut album Early in the Morning to much critical acclaim. One reviewer even referred to it as "the best album to come out of Ireland in a decade" or somesuch (read that full review here). He's about to embark on yet more tour dates around Ireland including the Kilkenny Roots Festival, and took some time out to talk about playing solo, his influences - both musical and literary, learning to play a variety of instruments, as well as his music being featured on American television shows.

How did you start in music?
I started playing drums when I was around 17, a lot of my friends were in bands and there weren't many drummers about. Didn't play in many bands in the end, rehearsed with a lot, but got quite frustrated, everyone wanted to sit around and talk about making music, I just wanted to make music!

Is that why you chose to go it alone? No constraints of being in a band?
I think so. it wasn't a conscious thing, I've always just enjoyed my own company, and when you're working with other musicians ideas inevitably change and become diluted. By learning all the instruments myself, it meant that whatever i eventually came up with would be 100% mine, for better or for worse.

Was it a conscious decision to learn a variety of instruments, or just something that happened?
I think it was just the challenge of it, I have quite a strong competitive streak, I'd look at musicians like Sufjan Stevens, who was essentially writing, recording, and playing almost everything on his records, and it just inspired me so much, I'd sit there day after day, learning everything I possibly could.

Obviously he's a big influence, but who else influences you?
i mean my favourite bands on the planet are the national and band of horses, it's so rare to hear bands that can do skyscraping epic music, but without it being overblown and lacking sentiment. Also bands like Bowerbirds, The Antlers, people like Joanna Newsom and Bonnie Prince Billy, musicians who are constantly testing the limits of their own writing. I read a lot of books, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck. I think the theme that runs through everything that inspires me is incredibly dense imagery.

How did the album come about?
I think it initially came about due to frustration. I tried to make a record in London with a really great engineer friend of mine, and after 2 weeks we had about 2 drum tracks recorded! i just wasn't enjoying the music i was making, it wasn't what i wanted to do, and the studio environment just wasn't for me. so i moved back to ireland, sat down and thought about the type of music i love, and what i actually wanted to say with a first record. Making music on my own in a room is exactly how i got started, so i figured if i was ever going to figure it out, i would probably be by going back to that.

You camped out in a house in Drogheda by the sea, which has been mentioned a lot in reviews of the album - and brought a lot of comparisons to Bon Iver's cabin in the woods story - do you feel the comparison is accurate?
Well, the house I made my record in is inextricably linked to how the record sounds, and the house he made his record in is inextricably linked to his albums sound also, so the comparison on that level is inevitable I guess. They're both rustic loose records as well. But his is about the breakdown of a relationship, mine is a document of the journey I've been on for the last 2 years, so on that level they are completely unique things.

Do you pay much heed to reviews in the media?
Not really, or at least I try not to. Music is such a subjective thing, the amount of reviews I've read of albums that have either said they were the greatest thing since the sliced pan, or the worst thing since the unsliced pan, I've sought out the records in question, and completely disagreed with the reviewer. I am proud of the thing that I have made, it's out in the world now, and everyone is free to say whatever they'd like about it really. I'm just happy it's out!

How have the songs progressed to a live setting?
Well, because the record is very much not a solo singer/songwriter record, I was fixated on putting together a big group of musicians to help me properly articulate that live. But I was having trouble finding anyone right, so I started playing the songs just myself and my nylon string guitar, and it started to really click for me in a way that me and my guitar never did before. I'm finding new paths through the songs, it's actually really exciting for me. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to find musicians to help me make it sing like the record does, but right now this is working quite nicely!

Your songs have been featured in Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill in the US, and you've appeared on Other Voices and the View over here. Do you feel TV helps your exposure to new listeners?
Yeah, I think its incredibly important, especially in the initial stages when you're putting your record out independently like I am. I mean I have no budget for promotion or radio luggers, so getting a song in a tv show can in one fell swoop get you into 10 million people's homes, that pretty big for me! The response I've gotten from the few things I've been lucky enough to get into has been immense. I think it's a balancing act when it comes to that kind of thing too though, pick and choose wisely, I've made a record, it's a collective piece of work, and I want that to be what people are talking about, not 1 song I had played for 2 minutes in a massive tv show.


Early in the Morning is out now.

More info:
http://www.jamesvmcmorrow.com/


Tour dates:
12 March - Sugar Club, Dublin
18 March - Roisin Dubh, Galway
19 March - Auntie Annies, Belfast
2 May - Kilkenny Roots Festival
3 May - Kilkenny Roots Festival

Album Review: James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning

James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning, a Timeline.

00:00:02 - Bon Iver. The Irish Bon Iver, that's what this sounds like. It actually sounds so much like Justin Vernon, I think I may have put on the wrong album. But it's so good, so damn good, I'm not going to check.

00:01:27 - 'If I Had a Boat' hits the chorus, and it's gorgeous. Upbeat but still gentle, it's that all-encompassing warmth which only the best folk songs have. Amazing.

00:03:15 - After slowing things down, it comes back around. Those harmonies are gorgeous. The lyrics are enchanting too. A beautiful love song.

00:04:23 - We're into track two now. It's branched out a little from the Bon Iver comparisons of the opener. But not too much, it's still gorgeous. In fact 'Hear the Noise That Moves So Soft and Low' is actually a step-up from the opener.

00:05:45 - Even when James Vincent McMorrow isn't singing the whole thing sounds amazing. That banjo riff infuses the song with a tremendous old-time feel.

00:08:15 - Not content with being Justin Vernon, JVMcM wants to be Robin Pecknold too. He's actually a far better singer and musician than that Fleet Foxes mainman, so perhaps they'll draft him in as a replacement.

00:09:33 - 'Sparrow and the Wolf' just screams folk. The title, the music, the crystal clear choral vocal, everything. One of the best songs of the year.

00:10:18 - Feck this breakdown lark, I want the upbeat back, oh here it is. Glorious.

00:11:31 - Even the outro section is magnificent. Why oh why does this song have to end?

00:12:03 - 'Breaking Hearts' is a much slower tune. It's a more formulaic track, with a Johnny Cash-style slow rhythm.

00:12:40 - When the chorus kicks in, it gets good. A nice little anti-love song, with tales of broken hearts and drinking the night away. We've all been there.

00:14:59 - This reminds me a little of Brett Dennen, albeit a better Brett Dennen. This would be the perfect song to close out an episode of Grey's Anatomy (do you hear me RTE producers, snap up James for some Irish shows before the Americans get him).

00:17:14 - The darkest song so far, 'We Don't Eat' is a sparse piano-driven tune.

00:18:57 - The lyrics are dark too, but it's a welcoming dark. Like those scenes in horror films where the protagonist goes into the creepy-looking woods, and you shout at the screen telling her not to. It's impossible to resist.

00:20:21 - The music has that quality too. There's probably no escape. There's even a fabulous crescendo. Hair standing on end moment.

00:22:12 - The most upbeat song so far. I'm almost tempted to dance to this one. You know the way Ellie Goulding is trying to make danceable folk, when in actual fact she's merely the new Dido? Well, that's not danceable folk. 'This Old Dark Machine' is. Irresistibly catchy.

00:24:28 - The lyrics are even a small bit smutty. "Hem of your dress" eh? Speaking of Hem, where did they go. Ah forget about them, this is so much better.

00:25:10 - That repeated 'I Will Love You' may well be the best refrain ever.

00:26:13 - Back to Justin Vernon territory. I hate continually comparing the two, but that's who it sounds like. t even was recorded in an isolated house by the sea. 'Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree' is the song used in the Barnardos ad. See you thought it was Bon Iver too, didn't you? You can download the track from Barnados here.

00:28:50 - It's such a beautiful song, and another of the album's many highlights.

00:30:19 - The vocals are little more slurred here, but that actually works well with the melody and rhythm.

00:31:13 - 'Down the Burning Ropes' has that train-line click-clack feel, evoking images like some of the scenes in There Will Be Blood.

00:32:11 - How the hell does he do that with his voice. Amazing in every way. Who needs extra instruments when you can sing like this. McMorrow is such a better singer than Ireland's main singer-songwriter of the 00s (Damien Rice), it's unbelievable. If he doesn't become a breakout star with this album, everything is wrong with the music industry. Everything.

00:35:07 - 'From the Woods!!' comes complete with extra punctuation just to reinforce the point. It didn't need them at all, the lyrics and vocals got the point across more than well enough.

00:37:33 - I've listened to this album many, many times at this stage, and still I forget about this. I just don't expect it. Exclamation points are needed here. Definitely.

00:39:28 - 'And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop' is the best love song of the year. It's not a straightforward love song, but what love is?

00:41:53 - When he sings it, you know he really feels it. James Vincent McMorrow, if you are reading this, will you do me a favour, and sing at my wedding? It'd be perfect.

00:44:40 - The album ends with the title track 'Early in the Morning'. Good choice to bookend the record. The repeated title is flawless throughout

00:45:11 - The lyrics, oh the lyrics: "dressing in my father's suit / cleaned his shoes". Wow.

00:45:43 - Can't believe it's over. Irish album of the year? Definitely. Actually, you know what this is...

"The best album to come out of Ireland in a decade". You can quote me on that.