Last night was the launch gig for James Vincent McMorrow’s debut album release at The Sugar Club in Dublin.  While the album isn’t ready yet – it’s scheduled for a January 2010 release – James managed to put together a rather nice limited edition EP of three tracks with the help of his talented girlfriend. She made a lino print and did one hundred covers that James signed for people afterwards.  The three tracks are ‘We Don’t Eat’ (its polyrhythmic drive featured in a recent episode of One Tree Hill. Which I’m watching now for research purposes. <token dissing of the show removed after enjoying (bits of) it>), ‘And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop’, and ‘Hear The Noise That Moves’.

I first played with James back in March last year in Whelans and then again a month later. He’s been busy since then working on becoming a recording artist (only part of which is actually recording, it seems!). His album sounds great; he gave me an unmixed copy to learn the songs from and I’m looking forward to hearing the finished version.I hope it’s a success because I’d love to play the songs to lots of people :-)

So here’s what we (me on keys/banjo, Dave Lea on drums, Peter Ryan on bass) played:

  • We Are Ghost (solo)
  • This Old Dark Machine
  • Sparrow And The Wolf
  • And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop
  • Hear The Noise That Moves (solo)
  • Follow You Down To The Red Oak Tree (solo)
  • From The Woods
  • If I Had A Boat
  • Early In The Morning
  • In Dreams (solo cover of the beautiful Roy Orbison song with that delicious I – IVm chord change on “…just before the dawn I awake and find you gone…”. Huh, nice piano playing on this live version including interpolation of Bach’s C major prelude at the start.)
  • I End The Conversation (solo)

Jen took some great photos, one of which she used for her photo of the day project. Go and check them all out :-)