James Vincent McMorrow on the music that inspires him and being 'influenced by myself'

James Vincent McMorrow releases his seventh studio album Wide Open, Horses, on June 14. He talks about influences on this record and down through his career, with Eoghan O’Sullivan

Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow's new album Wide Open, Horses, is out June 14. Picture: Rich Gilligan

The National 

Boxer 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 Boxer 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 High Violet, 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.