‘We Move’ follows 2010’s platinum-selling 'Early In The Morning' (number 1 in Ireland), and acclaimed follow-up 'Post Tropical' (nominated for the Choice Music Prize, leading to sold-out worldwide shows spanning two nights at Sydney Opera House to London’s Barbican & Shepherd’s Bush Empire). Returning with latest single ‘Rising Water’, 2016 has already seen McMorrow surpass 100+ million streams, be sampled on Drake’s Views, collaborate with Kygo, and feature in the quickly-viral trailer for the latest series of Game of Thrones. 'We Move' arrives ahead of a 17 date European tour, including James’ largest London headline to date at The Roundhouse on October 17, 2016.
Written in constant transition – and recorded between Toronto, Dublin and London – 'We Move' is McMorrow’s most expansive, generous and ambitious record to date. Yet there is something more stripped-back – vulnerable, even – surfacing for the first time: far from the dense, protective imagery at the heart of 'Post Tropical', 'We Move' is ultimately a record open in its portrait of anxiety and social unease. For James, it’s about celebrating mental fragility – and how we move forward in life.
The first steps to 'We Move' took place in 2014, when James – having been asked to write for different artists’ projects – started sketching out ideas for others on tour (and subsequently stopped over-analysing his own work). Intent on doing the opposite of everything he’d done thus far, McMorrow then came off the road, but kept exploring: through Barcelona, Canada and Los Angeles, where the album crystallised. He returned to Dublin determined not to self-produce again, but to work with people who could articulate the unique world he heard in his head (“I grew up wanting to write songs like Neil Young but produce them like The Neptunes”). James reached out to a few key co-producers he’d met whilst travelling, namely, Nineteen85 (Drake), Two Inch Punch (Years & Years), and Frank Dukes (Kanye West). Mixing took place with one of McMorrow’s all-time heroes, Jimmy Douglass - known for his work from Donny Hathaway through to Timbaland – who finessed the record’s warm, vintage yet forward-thinking feel.
The result is an album about movement – geographically, mentally, emotionally – which remains focused on finding your place in that future. Ultimately it embraces a shared, collective awkwardness, and a sense that maybe we’re all putting on a brave face in some way. Beginning with the sky-scraper sized catharsis of ‘Rising Water’, 'We Move' continues a remarkable journey for the Dubliner, whose early work offered little clue as to the sounds that would follow. It’s a remarkably assured collection, informed by this idea that you might not have to listen to others when they tell you how they think life is supposed to go; and that as you grow up, you lose things along the way. Rather, ‘We Move’ suggests it’s possible to keep what you want to keep, and lose what you want to lose.
Watch the video for first single ‘Rising Water’ here
You can also watch the live session video for 'Get Low’, filmed at Metropolis Studios in London last month here.
'We Move', is out TODAY via Believe Recordings / Caroline.
WE MOVE
- Rising Water
- I Lie Awake Every Night
- Last Story
- One Thousand Times
- Evil
- Get Low
- Killer Whales
- Seek Another
- Surreal
- Lost Angles
TOUR
- Oct 10 O2 ABC Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Oct 11 Albert Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Oct 12 Colston Hall, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Oct 13 Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Oct 15 The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead, United Kingdom
- Oct 17 The Roundhouse, London, United Kingdom
- Oct 18 Élysée Montmartre, Paris, France
- Oct 19 Tivolivredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Oct 21 Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
- Oct 22 Debaser Medis, Stockholm, Sweden
- Oct 23 DR Koncerthuset, København S, Denmark
- Oct 24 Heimathafen, Berlin, Germany
- Oct 26 Mojo, Hamburg, Germany
- Oct 27 New Fall Festival, Dusseldorf, Germany
- Oct 29 BIME, Bilbao, Spain
- Oct 30 Joy Eslava, Madrid, Spain
- Oct 31 BARTS, Barcelona, Spain