James Vincent McMorrow on the music that inspires him and being 'influenced by myself'
Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow's new album Wide Open, Horses, is out June 14. Picture: Rich Gilligan
was a huge record, in terms of me hearing something and feeling like that's the thing to shoot for. And also seeing their career, seeing a band get better and better. Because their first album, it's not that good. There's moments in it that you're like, 'that's a thing worth pursuing'. And you can see it all now. I only came to them when was out, like everybody else, and was like, 'Holy shit, that's incredible'. Like, it's got better and more refined. And then you get to , and it's just this perfect album. That's inspiring. Like, the fact that the music is flawless is one thing, but the fact that a band can have a career like that is like a fucking lost art, which is depressing, because people should have that. But they were hugely influential to me on the first couple of records.
I definitely went back into my childhood in this process, so - Elliot Smith, - Fiona Apple. At this point in my career, without sounding like a fucking giant dipshit, I tend to be influenced by myself in that, there's sounds and ideas that I've tried to go for in the past and haven't stuck the landing on. So I was more interested in going back to those again. So it wasn't like I was listening to music and going back - I've never really done that - 'I love how this sounds. I'm gonna go try and emulate that in any way, shape, or form'. I'm trying to emulate a version of myself and make it better.
Early Drake is unbelievably good. 'Marvin's Room' is one of the greatest pieces of music, in my opinion, that's ever been committed to tape. I think it's brilliant. I think the symmetry between what he was saying, the effort that they're putting in, the people that were working on it, there was just effort, there was work put in in the studio. Rap in the last few years has fallen off because it became so huge and then there was no critical assessment of it… When I heard 'Hold on We're Going Home', I was like, 'This fucking song is amazing'. That was why I worked with 85 on my third album was because I heard that song and then I reached out to him. And he was a big fan of my second album.
I love Gilla Band. They're probably the preeminent band, or artist, for me. There's a version of them that would probably be much more successful commercially if they compromise the sound, but I've known them a long time, they are just not willing to do it because it would compromise this indelible and very precise vision they have for themselves. So they are more influential than any other Irish band in the last 10 or 15 years.
I love CMAT. I think she's a brilliant songwriter. And I just think it's amazing to see someone with such a clear, concise vision for a thing articulated so well and for it to work. It also speaks to that idea that streams don't dictate reality anymore. She's not someone who has hundreds and hundreds and millions of streams, but she's selling endless tickets because it's a thing that is honest and brilliantly articulated and people believe in.
One of my favourite records is an album called from 10, 12 years ago. It's this weird little band that Ryan Gosling put together with a friend of mine called Tim Anderson, who used to be in a band called I am a Robot. Basically their premise was ‘we don't know anything about playing these instruments’. Tim played drums - he doesn't play drums. And then Ryan was like, ‘I don't know how to play keys, I'm gonna play keys’. So it's simple in capital letters, but in the most beautiful way. And then they brought in a kids' choir to sing all the choruses. There's a song called 'My Body's a Zombie For You' and there's just all these kids singing it and it's unbelievably potent. Kids singing a lyric just does a thing that you can't make up. You can't use fucking AI to sing into some voice changer and then you're the kid, that would be ridiculous. It just has to be real and natural. So that record has been a big influence on me over the years.
- James Vincent McMorrow - is out via Nettwerk Music Group on June 14. He plays All Together Now in Waterford, August 1-4
