LISTEN: James Walker - 'Next To Me'

I'm heading down to London soon to meet up with a friend and go and catch The Maccabees play the penultimate show of their farewell tour... lots of excitement and a fairly distracted mind but I'm using up my last minutes at home checking out one of so many brilliant new releases today (I'll certainly be posting about the new Catgod track I'm Innocent soon, love them cool cats.) 

This track comes from Oxfordshire soloist James Walker, who I met through his work playing keys with Adam Barnes a couple of years ago, and who contributed to my dissertation back in December with an interview about Sofar Sounds and house shows. The new track Next To Me is the first release since James' brilliant Modern Medicine EP last year and is taken from his upcoming debut album, English Bones, due out in November which I can't wait to hear more of. Writing about the track online, James wrote that it is a song "about being with someone out of habit, rather than out of love. How it feels to be so intimate with someone that you feel detached from. It's the feeling of slipping away when you're holding onto them at night, of going for dinner and having nothing to say to each other." Get listening below!

Follow James online - Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud.

LISTEN: Joe Hicks releases 'Something in the Water' & 'Best Clothes'

If like me you're local to Oxford then you might recognise Joe Hicks as guitarist for Adam Barnes, but following in the footsteps of Adam's keys player James Walker, Joe has recently released his debut singles, Something in the Water and Best Clothes, which you can listen to below!

The tracks were written in a small converted garage in St Ives, Cornwall, with no internet or phone signal and recorded closer to home at Studio 1 in Newbury with producer Sam Winfield (Amber Run, Fickle Friends). I'm getting a pretty summer-y, Jason Mraz vibe and looking forward to hearing more! Watch out for a live Best Clothes video which is being released on Monday - check out some behind the scenes pics from the shoot by the folks at TMRW Mag here.

PREVIEW: James Walker - 'Modern Medicine'

If you're from Oxford, you might recognise James Walker from the Adam Barnes band, as he plays keys for Adam, having just been on a European tour with him. He's also a vlogger, has over a thousand subscribers and recently celebrated his 1st anniversary on Youtube, you can see his vlogs here. Now - he's venturing into the world of solo music, and his debut EP, Modern Medicine, is being released by Wild Native Records on 11th April.

EP artwork for Modern Medicine

I've been sent a link to listen to the EP before next week - and listen I have, three times in a row... The EP is a beautiful collection of tracks, well produced and performed, a stunning first release from James that I'm really impressed by. Having only heard James sing backing vocals and play keyboard for Adam, I wasn't sure what to expect but anything that I did expect has been surpassed. If you're a fan of stripped back acoustic music then the EP is for you, for sure, but the EP is so much more than that - beautifully hitting the mark between intimate acoustic music and a much bigger sound, particularly in the latter half of the title track, Modern Medicine. A highlight for me is the slightly more upbeat Right Person Wrong Time with some great intricate guitar playing, but I'm a big fan of the whole EP and heartily recommend a listen next Monday when it's released!  

My photo of James, playing with Adam Barnes at Sofar Sounds Oxford last year

James heads out on a tour with Kira and August Is Ours in April and May with a few dates in the UK and several further afield in Germany and the Netherlands.