Artist: James Vincent McMorrow
Album: Early In The Morning
Bitrate: 207kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Believe / EMI
Genre: Indie
Size: 77.17 megs
PlayTime: 0h 49min 13sec total
Rip Date: 2011-09-18
Store Date: 2011-04-08
Track List:
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01. If I Had A Boat 4:09
02. Hear The Noise That Moves So 4:02
Soft And Low
03. Sparrow & The Wolf 3:41
04. Breaking Hearts 4:50
05. We Don't Eat 4:55
06. This Old Dark Machine 4:16
07. Follow You Down To The Red Oak 3:27
Tree
08. Down The Burning Ropes 5:02
09. From The Woods!! 3:58
10. And If My Heart Should Somehow 4:35
Stop
11. Early In The Morning, I'll Come 2:39
Calling
12. We Are Ghosts 3:39
Release Notes:
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On his promising debut, Early in the Morning, Irish singer-songwriter James
Vincent McMorrow generally sticks to the conventions set forth by countless
other indie-folk troubadours. Though his songs sometimes build to a rousing
chorus or even a catchy pop hook or two, McMorrow treads the comfortable,
well-worn path of a confessional songwriter in the vein of Iron & Wine, Sufjan
Stevens, and Damien Rice. That the musical landscape is already littered with
young men with acoustic guitars who all do some slight variation on this same
exact thing doesn't do McMorrow any favors, but what he does, he does pretty
well.
Pretty, in fact, is probably the operative word to describe McMorrow's record.
With his vapor-thin high tenor, McMorrow is blessed with a distinctive and
serene instrument, and it's ultimately the loveliness of his voice that
distinguishes Early in the Morning from the work of acts like Bon Iver and
Mumford & Sons. He conveys a palpable sense of yearning on many of the album's
best songs, culminating in a surprising, soulful falsetto on standout "And If My
Heart Should Somehow Stop." Opener "If I Had a Boat" (sadly, not a cover of the
Lyle Lovett tune of the same name) is a slow burn, as McMorrow's performance
incrementally gains confidence and force, and "Sparrow and the Wolf" cuts loose
into a double-timed, banjo driven romp.
Each of these songs invites comparisons to other artists, and it's clear that
McMorrow has studied what works about many of the songwriters whose styles
inform his work. In particular, Sufjan Stevens's mastery of manipulating song
structure figures into the tempo and dynamic shifts on "This Old Dark Machine"
and the unexpected key change in "And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop," making
those two of McMorrow's most effective songs. Not all of the songs are quite so
polished: A catchy melody can't overcome the clichΘd turns of phrase on
"Breaking Hearts," and closer "Early in the Morning, I'll Come Calling" comes
off as slight rather than minimalist. Still, McMorrow's smart approach to his
craft and his exquisite voice counterbalance what Early in the Morning lacks in
originality and refinement.