Early James - Strange Time To Be Alive (2022)

EARLY JAMES DOESN’T like it when his lyrics sound too straightforward. The Alabama singer-songwriter tends to approach things obliquely, adding an air of mystery and haziness that doesn’t just spell it all out. Sometimes he even does it to his detriment.

“I like to confuse myself by what I even mean,” James says. “It’s like, what do you mean by that? I’m like, ‘That’s a fun turn of phrase. Does it make sense? No, not yet.’ And then you just make it make sense.”

James had to do some sense-making labor for “Real Low Down Lonesome,” a duet with roots star Sierra Ferrell that appears on his upcoming album Strange Time to Be Alive (Aug. 19). Over a dramatic, flamenco-influenced set of chords, Ferrell coos about “an awfully strange gallows trick” and James murmurs about “striking matches just for fun,” vividly illustrating the potently seductive and dangerous attraction between two people. James had written it with Ferrell and Strange Time to Be Alive‘s producer Dan Auerbach, but he wasn’t quite satisfied with the result.

“I went home and tried to season up the lyrics a bit,” he says. “I thought it read plainly at first. I just want things to be more poetic. I really want to think about a line. I don’t want it to read like a love song from the Fifties where it was like, you can just write down how you feel and make it rhyme and that was poetry.”

Strange Time to Be Alive, which teems with those unusual lyrical flourishes, reunites James with Auerbach, who produced the 2020 debut Singing for My Supper. Working with his bandmate Adrian Marmolejo and Auerbach’s cast of ace studio players, James accented his outré, Tom Waits-ian compositions and signature gruff croon with knotty bursts of electric guitar and surprising melodic changes to complement his lyrics. He also touches on more worldly topics, from online discourse to religious violence, then shakes his head at the misfortune of being present for the chaos in the title track.

James will be on tour all this fall, including dates supporting the Black Keys and headlining club shows, as well as an appearance at AmericanaFest 2022. That is if his van can get him there.

TRACKLIST

1. Early James - Racing To A Red Light
2. Early James - Straightjacket For Two
3. Early James - My Sweet Camelia
4. Early James - Pigsty
5. Early James - What A Strange Time To Be Alive
6. Early James - Real Low Down Lonesome
7. Early James - Harder To Blame
8. Early James - If Heaven Is A Hotel
9. Early James - Splenda Daddy
10. Early James - Dance In The Fire
11. Early James - Wasted And Wanting
12. Early James - Something For Nothing