Search - Brendan James :: Brendan James

James and his producer Warren Huart (Augustana, The Fray, Howie Day) have emerged with an album that keeps the spotlight on James' emotionally resonant voice and expressive piano playing. "First and foremost, it was important to me that the vocals and piano were up front," James says. "Warren made sure that was his first priority. When it comes to the recording process, he's a traditionalist, which is important to me because though I want my albums to sound current, I also want them to stay true to who I am as an artist." Recorded in James' new hometown of Los Angeles (where he relocated permanently after seven years in New York City), Brendan James is as layered in personality as the artist who made it. Thoughtful lyrical insights are revealed with repeated listenings. "My lyrical style is unmovable I've found," James says. "I have tried to write a little more abstractly, but I just can't. You are what you are and my heart is on my sleeve. I am a romantic as well as an optimist. I also go through my daily life thinking too hard about certain things. Stuff doesn't roll off of me that easily. So I think my songs have this heaviness meets romance meets positivity." You can hear that dichotomy in the sheer diversity of the songs, which range from upbeat tunes like "Nothing For Granted," (about actually being in the moment rather than talking about it), "Stupid For Your Love," "Different Kind of Love," and "Emerald Sky", to a series of elegant piano ballads, including "Anything For You" (featuring guitarist David Welsh and drummer Ben Wysocki from The Fray), "Your Beating Heart," and "Let It Rain." James says "Let it Rain" is about seeing the realities of the music business and the challenges of selling one's art to the masses. "`Get It Right' is about that, too," James says, "for me pursuing a career in music has been one hell of a challenge but everyone has their own individual pursuit they are trying to achieve, for me it is sharing my music with as many people as humanly possible." Finally, there's the album's first single "The Fall," which James wrote about having to let someone go with the knowledge that the freedom of letting them go is the most grounding feeling of all.