dba James is pining for originality, despite its seemingly impossibly existence. The indie pop artist based out of Randolph is a little bit eccentric, and perhaps a tad obsessive over his craft. James spent the better part of a year in a barn on the town he grew up in tirelessly writing songs that spoke about his every experience. Sometimes on the computer, sometimes in his notebook, James would scribble or type out his thoughts into song each and every day.
“There’s a lot of dirt in here” , he says. “I have to wipe my hands on my pant legs before picking up instruments. Every morning I wake up, talk to my sister and play with the dog. I walk 20 steps to the latched door and sit here writing till 2am.”
Even without fancy equipment, James is able to create and record a style of lo-fi indie pop that’s distinctively his own. With everything being done just through his own computer, James’ passion to create cinematic visuals is inspired by maximalist production and lyrics that are a little bit cheesy & corny. The opening track, ‘Trad Future’, is about accepting the past as our future and appreciating the ever fleeting now. Utilising a heavy amount of synths, and an acoustic riff that sounds straight out of an early Weezer record, and with James singing a lot like Rivers’ himself, the song’s a unique mix between pop rock and atmospheric indie.
Each song is quite similar, but with their own moments of elation and euphoria that make them a neat set of three catchy indie bops that reel you in to James’ brand of bedroom pop. ‘Penny’ is the most light-hearted and easy going piece on the album, a tune that’s got a feeling of summer embedded strongly within it. ‘Penny’s in the backseat crying, everybody else seems fine’ won’t leave your head. On the final titular track, ‘Heaven is forever’, James’ outlines the lessons he’s learnt in originality. Coming to the acceptance that we’re all inevitably bound to repeat ourselves, he feels that at least we have the agency to choose what to repeat. The high pitched synths that hit after he delivers ‘heaven is forever’ on the chorus create an absolutely transcendent experience.
Fans of indie pop will find a whole lot to love in James’ debut album. It’s majestically modern, imaginatively inventive, and cinematically crafty. I can only imagine the depth he’s able to go to when he’s got a full studio apparatus by his side. Till then, this succinct and enjoyable piece of bedroom pop is a fun listen at any time of the day, and at any mood of yours.
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