You might heard about James Bay by now, maybe on the radio – you might even have downloaded one or all of his three EPs. I swear you gonna hear a lot more from Mr Bay this year – and years to come!
Photo by Alex Shahmiri
The 25 year old English singer-songwriter, got a second place when BBC summed up “The Sound of 2015” – if you ask me James Bay´s gonna be the voice of 2015. Vocally James Bays passionate voice is the perfect link between Ray La Montagne, James Morrison, Hozier, John Mayer, and sprinkle a little James Blunt on some of the poppier songs. Where Hozier got the gospel feel om some of his best songs, John Mayer and Ray La Montagne got the blue-eyed soul blues/country, James Morrison got the soul, and James Blunt got the pop. Blend them all together and you´ll know what to expect from James Bay. Add that he’s got the look of a young John Mayer / Johnny Depp and sings and write the songs you´ll be hearing everywhere this spring and throughout the year!
I got hooked on James Bay while checking out his three EPs; “The Dark Of The Morning“, “Hold Back The River” and “Let It Go” and you´ll get blown away how great even his non-album tracks sound. Songs from the EPs are included on his forthcoming album, but even his “B-sides” or no-album-tracks shows what a great songwriter James Bay is.
Some of the songs off the EPs deserves and extra mention, and let’s start with “Move Together” is going be one of those songs that will be included in almost every romantic comedy and TV-series, in years to come. It´s actually his answer Ray La Montagnes “Hold You In My Arms”. The song “Running” makes me somehow hum on a ballad version of U2s “Still Haven´t Found What I´m Looking For”, the gospel feel of this song is beautiful. “Need The Sun To Brake” has a humming choir bridge that than draw a line to “Bonfire Heart” by James Blunt song. “Hold Back The River” is a song James Morrison could have released.
James Bays promising debut album “Chaos And The Calm” will be released the 23rd of March, and I´ll be surprised (and mighty disappointed) if this does not hold the same quality as his pre-released tracks off this album. Almost half of the album has been pre-released as tasters on Itunes, and damn they sounds just perfect – can´t wait till the whole thing is released.
Check out James Bays homepage here. All pictures is taken from James Bays Facebookpage
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