James Dey - Autumn

Leeds artist James Dey has released his third EP of the year. Creating one for all four seasons, he now embarks on his ‘Autumn’ edition. Here is our track by track review:

Well-trodden

Like the Spring and Summer affairs, the opening track is an instrumental piece (well, 95%). It’s a simple, well-honed piece, signifying the beginning of autumn. Life is still in the air, hope of one more great adventure before winter lingers. The hatches have not been battened down yet!

Weightless

The autumnal feel, arguably the most tangible of all seasons in alternative music has been nailed by Dey here. The gentle loss of life to the beautiful golden scenery permeates throughout. The addition of Fie Meneghello vocals gives the EP a joyous sheen.

It conjures images of a couple so completely in love, they annoy all and sundry around them. They are going to eek every last ounce of fun out autumns glow.

Autumn in Lisbon

The dual vocals continue but here, they stray form folk into indie pop territory. So much so, this would not be about of place on Belle & Sebastian’s ‘Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like Peasant’ album.

Skein

The close of autumn is nigh, death is upon us. Winter is coming! Dey encapsulates the big weather change with a gear change musically too. The gentile ebb and flows become more drastic.

As a result, it’s Dey’s most difficult piece of music to dat. However, when the isolation of the acoustic guitars combining with the sublime and aimlessly meandering orchestration, it’s clear, the complexities on show are more rewarding than his previous efforts.

James Dey – Summer

Leeds' James Dey is releasing an EP for each season in 2019. Following on from his superb 'Spring EP', comes the equally fine 'Summer EP'.

Dey has pulled a master stroke on this EP. Focusing on how love and fond memories emerge from the rare but cherished warmer days of the UK, he has taken the personal and made them universal.

The loving nostalgia on 'Him For Her' will take you to the place where you and your loved one are the only care in the world. Dey takes in the insignificance of human without a trace of melancholy and builds layers of love upon the characters. It is only fitting that, Dey adopts an Elliot Smith style for this hand in hand stroll along the beach.

His Smith influences join forces with The Beatles on 'The Nettles Looked Nice Today'. There is a warmth here that showcases a warmth and talent that should be recording in Abbey Road.

'Awake' lifts Dey to the level where those who could fund that project, will find it hard not to do so. The gentile guitars alongside the slow moving traffic takes a dull Uk town on a hazy afternoon and paints it full of colour!

As the world looks back at 'Definitely Maybe', 'The Holy Bible', 'Dummy' and 'Dog Man Star' 25 years on, 'Awake' creates a sound scape worthy of overlaying a montage of those hopeful days. 'Awake', although calming in presence, is the sound of young hearts searching their minds, reaching for identities as yet unfounded on long summer nights.

With two more EPs to come, Dey has set the bar impressively high to match them.

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James Dey – Spring EP

Following on from his superb debut album 'The Night Time', Leeds based James Dey is back with the first of four new EP's. All centered around the four seasons, Dey begins, unsurprisingly with spring.

They say timing is everything in music. So, how apt that, last week, Dey released his 'Spring EP' as spring sprung. Dey has tapped into the most beatific moments of Badly Drawn Boy's career on 'Ebb and Flow' and the instant classic 'Faintly But Surely'. The former, eloquently portraying the gentle awakening of life and the breeding of hope. A week on from watching a million people march on Westminster, it couldn't feel more appropriate.

Meanwhile, 'Faintly But Surely', delivers Spring's message of hope with a directness that's undeniable. As Dey infectiously sings 'change is coming', it's hard to not to get lost in the mire of current affairs. Nevertheless, his ability to keep everything light, allows a brightness to grasp your attention more than anything else.

On the EP closer 'The First Swifts', Dey taps into the vocal prowess of Simon Fowler in his Merymouth days and the work of Ian Matthews in Plainsong. There is an earnest and everyday reality filtering through the feather light folk music. Never resting on his melodic laurels, Dey has channelled Turin Breaks with a delightfully awkward and catchy riff.

Dey tempers the hope that Spring brings with the almost downtrodden drudgery of everyday life in 'The 7:42am'. The monotony of a commute, familiar to millions, can be lifted by the spring weather, but alas, we all feel we're missing out going off to make someone else money. The way in which Dey captures the essence of watching the world go by on the train brings Noah & The Whale's brief but illustrious career to mind.

When Badly Drawn Boy's debut 'Hour of the Bewilderbeast', it rightly changed the music landscape we lived in. Evocative, emotive and challenging, it reimagined what alternative pop music could be. James Dey's 'Spring EP' is a great homage to that legacy. In true Spring fashion, has us eager for Dey's future releases.

*Image courtesy of Mike Turner

James Dey - The Night Time

It’s been a decade since Leed’s James Dey released an album, and, on this showing, a decade too long.

The Yorkshireman’s hiatus from recorded music has not diminished his ability to write hushed and angelic folk songs. Opener, ‘The Yawn’, is never more apt than right now as winter draws in. Blessed with the warmth of Stornoway’s debut album, this quaint number is the perfect avenue for you amble into this album.

This is a consistent album, often serving as good background noise or relaxing commuting content. However, every now and then, Dey produces genuine moments of magic, often around the simplest and intimate discourses.

‘Hedgehog’ is one of these instants. Dey’s vocals adopt a whispered gravel and traverses its way to enriching and rousing blast on the trumpet. On paper, this has the hallmarks of Billy Bragg and Sam Duckworth. However, an amusing tale of a mid-twenty something being locked out of his parents and a dead hedgehog, not so much.

Dey is adept at writing songs about the imperfect like ‘Smokers In The Corridor’ and ‘Andrika’. The former is a majestic piece of folk-pop. Only Tom Williams has rivalled this level of intimacy in recent times. The mood and tone brings Noah & The Whale to mind as Dey evokes memories of a seaside holiday.

All kids should grow up with holiday memories like this. On paper, they’re shit, but those vague memories of your elders free from everyday stresses breeds a warmth as you get older and kudos to Dey, he encapsulates this beautifully.

Meanwhile, ‘Andrika’, is a boat that doesn’t sale in the garden of his childhood. A glorious display of childhood imagination of what this boat once was and the battles it once endured. Fans of this song, should read Andrew Collins’ ‘Where Did It All Go Right?: Growing Up Normal in the 70s’ now!

This is an album that you might be able to ignore because of under exposure, but, put it on and you will find it tough to put back down again.

You can and WILL download 'The Night Time' on James' bandcamp page here

https://jamesdey.bandcamp.com/album/the-night-time