@ Kazimier 08.02.12

(Image: James Vincent McMorrow)

I heard about this guy around a month before the gig. I was just going through a few of his videos on YouTube after seeing him on February’s listings and as soon as I heard ‘Higher Love’ seep out my knackered Toshiba laptop speakers I was sold. This was a night I was going to brave the cold to see. The heating was broke in the house anyway but even if the house was burning I would have thrown my gloves on and got down to see mr James Vincent McMorrow warm up the sold out Kazimier crowd. After a brief telling off from Pippa on the door I literally had to push my way through to the bar, it was that packed. The thing about JVM is he really does have an exceptional voice which is echoed by the incredible and all aged turn out. His tracks have a beautiful unique simplicity to them that all these guitar, electro and what have you bands just simply can not possess so a show like this in many ways is a breath of fresh air from the norm…

I rolled up to tha joint (bus stop closest to tha joint) a few minutes before the man himself came on. An honest walk and a humble stumble on stage was greeted with a sold out cheer and we were treated to ‘the’ James Vincent McMorrow voice itself. But instead of hearing his ‘singy’ voice it was his normal voice, charming the crowd. His witty jokes and friendly nature held the audience in his grip from the get go. The whole demeanor of the guy oozed haystacks and music. The guitar got picked up, the crowd settled and Jim Vin McMo started.

I’ve already said how much I was impressed by his voice online but in real life it was something else. Backed up by his band of musicians and a back up singer, the music softly and sometimes viscously cut the silent air of the crowd like a knife. As much of a cliche that sounds there is no other way to describe it. You could almost see the air above the crowd being pierced by pure emotion, incredible vocals and music. Things were tense and emotions were high and JMV sliced right through it.

When floating around the keys of C and E there is sometimes a real Mumford and Son-esque vibe about him some of the song sounds. I’m not just comparing because of genre, there were some moments where if heard those moments on the radio I would actually not be able to tell the difference which to you might sound crazy after hearing him sing but personally I definitely heard strong similarities on the night. By far is that a bad thing though (I know a lot of musos see a comparison with a chart band as a negative for some reason). However, what makes him different and so more effective is the fact that there is just his and a sometimes a backing singer’s vocals, his vocal range is so so sooo much wider than anyone’s I’ve ever seen live and a lot of his songs are softer. In the harder hitting guitar tracks is where the pop folk comes through but that’s not to be a term to put you off. It’s all art with this guy.

(Image: The crowds)

Mid-way to the end of the set was when things were getting too much for the ladies of the crowd. A group of teenage girls were standing to the right of the stage, front row, falling in love with every word he sang. My missus and I were actually laughing at the extra expressional nature one of the girl’s faces. You could see her heart breaking with every smile and love sparked twitched. It was literally a ‘sit on the toilet face’ with extra tears. James Vincent McMorrow was effectively a hairier Justin Bieber with the girls that night. It wasn’t even just the younguns, a scouse voice that sounded old enough to be his mother projected from the mid right section of the crowd half way through a room enchanting track with an “Awww, I luv’ you”. It got a few laughs but almost immediately got attacked by a majority of subtle shushes. And rightfully so. The love towards JVM did feed the wit of the man and the light hearted banter kept on coming but as soon as he hurtfully wolf howled out an impossible note that was the time for us to be silent.

I’ve got to say the highlight for me was his final song which I’ve added to this article so give your self a late Valentines day gift and have a listen. He did a cover of Chris Isaac’s ‘Wicked Games’, a song I had become familiar with via the music video channels in my early teenage years. It was only until my late teens I realised the song had words but all those memories and thoughts and pubescent sentimentalities that were previously attached to this song just went. In my eyes, ‘Wicked Games’ now belongs to James Vincent McMorrow.

Words: Joe ManGone

Photography: Joe Mangone

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