That facial hirsute look is prevalent these days, especially amongst musicians. A bit like Marmite, it inspires love and hate. There seems to be little middle ground, especially amongst girls, who are in the frontline, so to speak, of their hairy, or otherwise, partners.

Mr. McMorrow was at the forefront of the movement to get hairy again, riding the nu-folk movement and all its associated sartorials and naturalism. Back in 2010, he released his debut album Early In The Morning in his home country of Ireland, but it was picked up quickly for a worldwide release. Before you knew it he was on Later. with Jools Holland, and selling out The Dome in Brighton, with its author bestriding the stage with just a guitar, a mic, and that beard. Not only that but he had assiduously cultivated the old school Amish/backwoodsman meets Sterling Hayden look; all rolled up sleeves and collarless shirts, with the associated look of very serious intent, standing as still as rock, as he delivered his 'beard rock'.

Moreover, like Bon Iver, Early in the Morning was recorded in isolation, just himself and an array of instrumentation, in fashioning a folksy-pop album of maturity and well-executed craft. Comparisons with Bon Iver were further embellished via the falsettos they both share, that voice on a man imparting a fragility and heightened emotion that falsettos tend to do. Here there were plenty of acoustic gutters and harmonies, as McMorrow sit snugly with the new breed of folkies such as Iver, Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine, bearded folksy types, one and all.

Then, and somewhat out-of-the-blue, he extracted the soulful element of his voice, and married this to a more modern, electro-acoustic fusion for the Post Tropical album. It was a bid to not rest on his laurels, and to push himself as an artist. It succeeded, gaining mush respect amongst music lovers for his adventurous, artistic spirit.

Forward to We Move and he's gone full steam ahead, ditching the acoustics almost entirely for a 100% neo-soul excursion, whilst retaining the key elements, his voice and his song craft. Moreover, his beard is much trimmed. More polished, less grit, as it were.

We Move (which on the cover, could be interpreted as We Made Love, as there is a thick black line through part of the title, possibly obscuring the letters 'ade L', a device used for all the songs’ titles as printed on the album) is his most expansive record to date. An album rich in sonics, whilst retaining that stripped back melancholic ambience he excels at. It’s a record he says celebrates mental fragility, but that once and for all ditches the perceived image of him, axe in hand, chopping trees whilst milking the cows. As he has said, he's hoping that, "people listening to my songs and believing that I’m out in the forest all day long, thinking about trees," will now think differently, "Because I’m actually at home, trying to convince myself to go out and get milk.”

Reaching out to a number of producers (Nineteen85, Frank Dukes, Two Inch Punch) to help him finesse his work and with mixing duties undertaken by the industry legend Jimmy Douglass, McMorrow's lyrical focus is now on identity and roots. Lead track, and a highlight of the album, Rising Water, sets the stage. It's perhaps his most urgent song ever, built upon a dirty effectless bass, a warped synth line and a tinny beat, as McMorrow paints a picture of taking stock and yet moving forward: "We're in it now, everybody know, what I've become / truth is I, never once was sad, for what I've done," he triumphantly sings.

'One Thousand Times' is a slower, stripped back number, but with real drums, as is 'Last Story', one of the album's highlights, although here it moves fluidly up a couple of gears for the grooving chorus. And the more expansive 'Evil' is, despite its title, more celebratory than ominous, as McMorrow questions whether you might in fact be a bad person if you don't see life the way other people do. While the similarly lyrically deep and musically expansive 'I Lie Awake Every Night' sees McMorrow addressing for the first time the eating disorder he has battled since he was a child.

Elsewhere, he strips things back, such as on 'Get Low', a song that manages to include a slowed down jungliest bass sound, a crazed electric guitar solo and some wiggly synth lines, such is the adventurous spirit of the album, while ‘Surreal’ sees him and co-vocalists create a multi-layered vocal track, and closing number ‘Lost Angles’ has McMorrow just on piano and vocals for a moving love song.

Although We Move does run out of ideas, particularly in the second half, the songs sometimes a little flat and giving the impression they were written in haste, there's enough great material here to suggest that McMorrow has successfully made the transformation from nu-folkie to neo-soulist. It's quite a transformation; a demonstration of his artistic intent, ability, and growing maturity.
Jeff Hemmings

Website: jamesvmcmorrow.com
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