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DEEWEE

James Righton

Jim, I'm Still Here

    ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’ is the second album from James Righton under his own name; produced by David & Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax and released on their label DEEWEE, the album follows The Performer released in 2020. James’ musical past is well documented; as the frontman of the genre inventing Klaxons, he helped create a revolution in British music and spawned a youth subculture. ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’ is a captivating meditation on the artists experience of the pandemic as James looks to conceptualize the myriad of emotions and events into a fascinating third person narrative. One of the album tracks features Benny Andersson from Swedish pop legendary band ABBA, with whom James has been working on putting together their new live band.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Livestream Superstar
    2. Pause
    3. Touch
    4. Release Party
    5. Real World Park
    6. Never Give Up On The City 
    7. A Day At The Races
    8. I Want To Live
    9. Lover Boy
    10. Empty Rooms
    11. Playing To Win
    12. Farewell Superstar

    After coming to prominence as the frontman of the Mercury Prize-winning Klaxons, recording with Arctic Monkeys and crafting his Shock Machine project, James Righton releases his debut solo album “The Performer”.

    ‘The Performer’ stands in stark contrast to the electro-hedonism of Righton’s work with Klaxons. Instead, it spins through various points from 1970 onwards. It touches on the suave art-lounge of Roxy Music, the jangly grooves of R.E.M., the sumptuous psychedelia of latter day Beach Boys and the songwriting gift of Nick Lowe. In short, it uses classic elements as the groundwork for something which feels a natural fit for now.

    The album flits between two core themes. Fatherhood has changed Righton’s life. It’s altered the relationship with his wife Keira Knightley, which he explores on the 90s-tinged pop-rock of “Start” and the crescendo that soars through “Lessons In Dreamland, Pt2”. But there are simpler emotions too, with the unrequited love and sweet harmonies of “Edie”, a song he wrote for his daughter when she was just a few days old.

    “The Performer” was written, performed and produced by James Righton, with the help of some select collaborators. James Ford (The Last Shadow Puppets, Simian Mobile Disco) performed drums throughout and bass on two tracks; Sean O’Hagan (High Llamas, Microdisney) contributed string arrangements; saxophone was provided by Jorja Chalmers (Bryan Ferry) and Josephine Stephenson (Thom Yorke, Ex:Re) contributed additional piano and string arrangements.


    TRACK LISTING

    The Performer
    Edie
    See The Monster
    Devil Is Loose
    Lessons In Dreamland, Pt. 1
    Start
    Are You With Me?
    Heavy Heart
    Lessons In Dreamland, Pt. 2

    Soulwax

    Essential

      Comprised of 12 tracks, named "Essential One" – "Essential Twelve", each song on the album is based around the word ‘essential’. Recorded in just under two weeks, "Essential" was created using the gear they didn’t use for their celebrated 2017 LP "From Deewee", which was recorded with the band in one take.

      The band elaborate: 'When we were approached to make an Essential Mix for the BBC in May 2017, we chose to do what every sane human being would do, we decided to lock ourselves into our studio for two weeks and make an hour of new music based around the word 'Essential', instead of preparing a mix of already existing music. The product of this otherwise unwise decision is something we ended up being very proud of and is now being released on the piece of plastic you’re are currently holding in your hands.'

      Stylistically it's fist bumping to stadium-electro whilst it tips its hat respectfully to techno; nothing new there then, and fans of the OG Soulwax sound have got plenty to get stuck into here - it's like Modeselektor's nympho sister who's into roller derby and warehouse raves. 


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Matt says: Fuckin' ell it seems like only yesterday that we were getting all dewy-eyed over the iconic "2 Many DJs" mix CD. Now everyone's favourite stadium dance superstars are back on Radio 1 AGAIN, and they've made a whole hour of BRAND NEW MUSIC. Yay!

      TRACK LISTING

      Essential One
      Essential Two
      Essential Three
      Essential Four
      Essential Five
      Essential Six
      Essential Seven
      Essential Eight
      Essential Nine
      Essential Ten
      Essential Eleven
      Essential Twelve 


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