James Bay - Chaos And The Calm

These days, being touted by the powers that be as one of the artists to watch in a given year carries more weight than a chocaholic on Easter Monday. The resulting backlash against James Bay has been a bit over the top, although in fairness, so has the hype, to the point where it would be pretty impossible for the young singer to meet expectations unless this debut turned out to be the missing link between Blood On The Tracks and Born To Run. It isn’t. But neither is it the epitome of bland mass marketing that some would have you believe (Ben Howard take a bow). Instead, the 24-year-old Hertfordshire singer/songwriter has released a collection of reasonably catchy tunes that are heavy on emotion and easy on the ear.
Opener ‘Craving’ is a stomper, all cascading guitar and throaty vocals, which comes across like a rockier version of fellow tousle-haired troubadour Passenger. The comparison with Mike Rosenberg is strongest, however, on the mildly arresting acoustic pop of recent single ‘Hold Back The River’, which comes complete with the kind of galloping chorus that rattles around your head long after the last note has faded.
When the humour takes him, Bay does anthemic pretty well, like on the sun-kissed shimmy of ‘If You Ever Want To Be In Love’, or the gospel singalong of ‘Incomplete’. The singer has admitted that Springsteen is a big influence, but the southern rock of ‘Collide’ or ‘Best Fake Smile’ has more in common with Bryan Adams in his heyday: back around 1984’s Reckless, the Canadian was the best in the world at this kind of arms-in-the-air rock ‘n’ roll.
‘Get Out While You Can’ is a soaring pop song with a highly infectious chorus, while ‘When We Were On Fire’ is shiny happy soul-pop, with a hint of folksiness; think Marty Pellow fronting Mumford & Sons.
When he slows things down, the results are mixed. The tender waltz of ‘Move Together’ is quietly affecting and the genuinely gorgeous ‘Scars’ builds from a slow confessional into a stirring finale. Less impressive is ‘Let It Go’, where Bay delivers lines like “Why don’t you be you and I’ll be me” as if they provide unique insights into the inner workings of the heart.
So Chaos And The Calm is unlikely to be talked about in years to come, but it’s a listenable, hummable debut that bodes well for Bay’s future development.

Key Track - 'Scars'