12 Dec 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Graeme James - EP Review: Field Notes on an Endless Day

29 Jul 2021 // A review by roger.bowie

Graeme James wasn’t planning on becoming a folk singer. Yes, he trained as a violinist from the age of seven, gradually extending his prowess to include other instruments, most prominently the guitar, and other genres, specifically folk, because the family had a band.

But no, school teaching was the extent of the young man’s ambition, until he discovered the loop and penury almost simultaneously (Warning: Loops can make you poor).

The loop slept with him in his broken-down car while he busked to fix it and survive. He found his wife-to-be playing his guitar instead of just looking after it while he mooched off for a break. Legend.

And now he’s back after a stint in Europe with the fourth of a series of EPs dedicated to the seasons and so this winter, it’s summer and Field Notes on an Endless Day.

There’s an oriental feel as the opening track kicks off but then the sound turns both aching and familiar. Graeme James sounds like someone, I can’t quite figure it out, maybe Al Stewart, but... it’s soothing and traditional and English and Celtic and comforting and seductive and it’s The Tallest Tree, cut down at its knees.

The Angel of St George shows of his rich tenor range with just a touch of endearing croak, that’s for emotion, plus falsetto, that’s for truth. The songs are exquisitely arranged, with lush instrumental background anchored by fiddle and acoustic guitar achingly well picked.

Even summer has sad songs, on the beach and Await the Tide. But then the wind whistles and we are further inland, still the land is barren and the sky is raging and the ship was wrecked but you are there and I’ll stay Close to You.

By now it’s clear that summer is not a happy season and next track strikes out with a sombre riff and a dream of you by the sea and my every desire but I am The Wild and I’m calling and howling and not coming home (it would seem).

With a mandolin wind now blowing, it’s time for an uplift, the optimism of the trees, and the giving of thanks. Happy just to be there when time stood still, taking .

Six songs in all, it’s over before it starts, but I’m wanting more, I want the whole year, and I can’t wait for the upcoming Tuning Fork gig on August 13th to discover the four seasons of Graeme James and his loop.

Could be the finest NZ musician I’d never heard of before now…..

Rating: ( 4 / 5 )
 

About Graeme James

Folk singer-songwriter Graeme James didn’t decide on a life in music until it seemed his very existence depended on artistic gifts. In 2012, circumstances outside his control essentialized his life and he found himself sleeping in his car and busking by day to get by. There and then he made the fateful decision to leap into the unknown and pursue a life as a professional musician. Now, four albums in, the New Zealand artist is firmly entrenched in this life path. Yet, he remains reflective of the emotional and physical transience of the path. In the 6 months before relocating to Europe in mid 2018, Graeme recorded his latest album, The Long Way Home. His Nettwerk debut is a warmly insightful, lushly layered modern folk album.

“This album has a calm-before-the-storm perspective. It was written before leaving New Zealand when I felt like had no idea what the future held which was both terrifying and exciting. Uncertainty definitely makes for good songs,” Graeme says with a good-natured laugh.

Graeme is a critically-acclaimed artist rooted in folk’s rich storytelling and musical traditions. He furthers the lineage with an imaginative textural approach in which he carefully crafts multi-instrumental soundscapes. Graeme’s dynamically layered compositions feature him playing violin, electric violin, guitar, bass, baritone ukulele, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, and beatboxing. He produces his own albums, and he faithfully recreates his textural tunes live in real time with a loop pedal. To date, Graeme has issued a pair of endearingly quirky cover albums; a record of all originals; and now, his first label release, The Long Way Home. Graeme’s self-released debut album, News From Nowhere (2016), has garnered awards and critical acclaim back home. He is one of New Zealand’s most streamed indie artists, and his shows regularly sell out. Graeme’s total Spotify plays surpass 20 million, with most of these streams coming from outside of his native New Zealand.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Graeme James

Releases

Seasons
Year: 2022
Type: Album
The Weight of Many Winters
Year: 2021
Type: EP
Old Storms in New Places
Year: 2020
Type: EP
The Long Way Home
Year: 2019
Type: Album
News From Nowhere
Year: 2016
Type: Album

Other Reviews By roger.bowie

Album Review: Subset BC
16 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Here’s an interesting little thing from Gisborne. A funky little band with three bass players.
Read More...
Gig Review: The Best of Come Together @ The Civic Theatre, Auckland - 9/12/2023
12 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Get your heads around this line-up:  The singers: Jon Toogood, (lead and backing vocals), Julia Deans (lead and backing vocals), Dianne Swann (lead and backing vocals and occasional guitar), Samuel Flynn Scott (vocals and guitar), James Milne (lead and backing vocals), Milan Borich (Mick vocals) The players: Jol Mulholland (guitars and vocals), Brett Adams (lead guitar and vocals), Mike Hall (bass), Matthias Jordan (keyboards), Alastair Deverick (drums), Finn Scholes (trumpet, clarinet and percussion), Nick Atkinson (sax and percussion).  Stopped spinning?
Read More...
A Crude Mechanical - Album Review: Discourse
08 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Shane Warbrooke doesn’t believe in lyrics, because of the risk of lyrics being hi-jacked and meanings bent to suit ideologies which he doesn’t like. Well, such ideologies which most of us don’t like, truth be known, but then again, Beethoven didn’t write lyrics, so the freedom of speech counter argument only goes so far.
Read More...
Gig Review: The Phoenix Foundation @ Hollywood Avondale, Auckland - 24/11/2023
26 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
This is a first of many things. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen The Phoenix Foundation play live.
Read More...
Velvet Arrow - Album Review: Songs of Solitude
17 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
A Song Of Hope & Fear would normally be a contradiction in terms unless darkness prevails and light shines through, which is an appropriate metaphor for the debut album from Whangarei’s Velvet Arrow and the opening song, with Dan Stenhouse’s husky voice helping us through the night against a ghostly horror wail from Hannah Jane. After all it’s just a song to help you through the night, just the words that speak, it’s not real.
Read More...
Gig Review: Atomic: Women of Rock @ The Civic, Auckland - 11/11/2023
13 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
What a feast of nostalgia we’ve had from Liberty Stage (Simone Williams) these past few years, as New Zealand’s finest have Come Together to cover the classic albums which made the soundtracks of our youth. In addition to this, there have also been special tributes like Tami Neilson’s rock ‘n roll party with Dinah Lee, just last month.
Read More...
Dimmer - Album Review: Live At The Hollywood
09 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
Wow, not very often that we see alive album these days, an unusual beast, but that’s we have, a 14-track monster from Dimmer, recorded from last year’s sold-out trilogy at the Hollywood Avondale. Which, if you didn’t get to go last year, you can still see on December 2nd at the Powerstation, unless, like me, you are going instead to The War on Drugs.
Read More...
Killergrams - EP Review: Lonely Nights In A Little Town
27 Oct 2023 // by roger.bowie
Someone walked out, and Tom Maxwell has lost his mind, in a gentle, acoustic way. Then his mind explodes in a cacophony of chaos, which might just be what it feels like, losing something that important.
Read More...
View All Articles By roger.bowie

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem