James Vincent McMorrow Live @ Norwich Art Centre
James Vincent McMorrow took to the sold out Art Centre stage in Norwich rather like a rabbit caught in the glow of a car’s headlights. I almost expected him to turn and run from the stage, half-size guitar in hand. His rise to fame through the medium of television advertising is not uncommon in this throwaway society, as there seems to be a craving to turn folk into overnight popstars. None of this, of course, is the fault of James himself. I did, however, wonder how many came to the venue on the back of that one cover version of ‘Higher Love’. If his spell-blindingly fragile performance turned some of the crowd onto the music of his peers as well as the man himself, then I can forgive the advertisers.
Despite the fact that he told us it was the first time he had done six back-to-back shows, both the main man and his band kept us captivated in an atmospherically-charged venue. The mood lighting provided an almost sinister visual to match McMorrow’s falsetto rising to considerable heights on ‘Sparrow And The Wolf’. The full 90-minute set at no time seemed too long, as he switched between full band and both piano and guitar solo moments. Indeed, at one stage he played keys with one hand, a drum with another, and still delivered a faultless vocal. As our photographer Steve remarked, his voice is – if anything – better live than on record. As the evening wore on he seemed to grow in stature, exchanging banter and stories with the crowd and even chastising the single-hand clap man.
There are shades of everyone from Bon Iver through to Fleet Foxes in McMorrow’s work, yet there is something distinctly unique about the man. There is much more to him than many of the leftfield twee-folk acts who have struck lucky. I have a feeling that this is just the start of his rise way up the musical ladder. His star will burn brightly long after those who found him via his appearance on the Gossip Girl soundtrack have moved onto the next en vogue act. This was a special night and one I was privileged to be part of, hell he even nailed Chris Issak’s ‘Wicked Game’!
Many Thanks To Steve Hunt for the photos!
http://www.jamesvmcmorrow.com/
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