From the opening beats of ‘Living in the Neon’, James Austin Melton swoops you into his world of sonic oddities, funky soundscapes, and downright weird progressions. The album is replete with moments of intrigue, singular moments on every track that just make your perk your ears and turn your head. To James, the record was a collection of tracks that inspired a more aspirational outlook. He wanted to create an album that could take all the weight of negativity, hardship, and difficulty that he and many others bore in 2020 and transform the experience into an outlet for positivity.
James self-produced, performed and recorded this entire album from a series of different hotel rooms he stayed in while working as a mystery shopper during the peaks of the pandemic. As the title would suggest, ‘manifestation’ forms a central piece of the record. James says “This album, like any creative art, is magic in this sense. It is the will made manifest”. From a more personal perspective, James saw the album as an outlet wherein he could take his own fears, anxieties, and thoughts as a gay man and transform it into something more positive.
‘Living in the Neon’ is one of the best opening tracks you’ll hear all year. It’s a unique track, one that describes a desire to transcend from the material space into a spiritual one for the purpose of being at one with the universe around us. It’s a sonic journey in every sense of the world, littered with little intricacies and oddities that make it an outright treat to listen to just to experience every bit of James’ mind in the production.
The next track on the record, ‘I Won’t Write Another’, takes a drastic shift. It’s much slower, more melancholic, and far more cohesively put. The RnB slow jam is all about the end of a relationship with someone you’ve built up in your head. James says “It’s a song about unrequited love and the unreturned affections gay men often develop for close friends.”
‘Rain Drops and Ben-Day Dots’ features some of my favourite production on the record. James vocal intonations on this piece stand markedly apart, truly using a full range to deliver the chorus that is just so wonderfully intriguing.
As far as modern indie pop records go, I haven’t heard many with a production style as developed, fluent, and experimental as James Austin Melton has managed on Will Made Manifest. For that and that alone, this album is an experience well worth your listening time. But, within it, there’s a ton of heart that’s bound to have you feeling a bit emotional.
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