Persbericht, maandag 4 juli 2022
Last month James Righton announced his new album Jim, I’m Still Here. The album made in collaboration with David & Stephen Dewaele (Soulwax) will be released on July 8 via their DEEWEE label. James previewed the album with lead single Pause and recent track Empty Rooms featuring ABBA’s Benny Andersson.
Today James shares a brand new single Never Give Up On The City, a song that documents both the deep desire to flee the strange situation lockdown put the world in and how the mundane and the surreal managed to coexist during this time. The track continues the narrative of Jim, James’ alter ego that he developed during lockdown and our narrator for the course of the album. The song is also a stunning representation of the Sprechstimme vocal style that James uses (for the first time) throughout the album. He explains: “’African Night Flight’ by David Bowie was a vocal style reference. The words came first for many of these songs so rather than concentrating on fitting words to a melody I worried more about the words I was saying.”
James also shares the trailer for the album’s accompanying film, also entitled ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’ and released on July 8 in line with the album. The film is directed by Julian Klincewicz (who has collaborated with the likes of Beyoncé, Virgil Abloh, and Jay Z) who worked with Righton across all visuals for the album along with collaborator Jackson Sjogren.
On the film, Julian says, “We really worked at translating and interpreting the feelings of quarantine into symbols; fish swimming in circles at an aquarium, deserted snow covered sand dunes, textured stills that force you into a moment of pause. The visual language of the film as a whole is really a translation of the feelings of isolation, uncertainty, spontaneity and growth that were so intrinsic to the COVID/quarantine experience. So with that as a jumping off point we wanted to create a piece that took those ideas and coyly disguised them into textural, playful and beautiful visuals.”
After reaching unfathomable levels of success with nu-rave originators Klaxons, James Righton morphed into one man pop sensation Shock Machine, releasing an acclaimed 2017 album before his first solo adventure under his own name, 2020’s The Performer. In 2022 Righton is reinventing himself yet again, via the stunning synth sounds of Jim, I’m Still Here. On this third post-Klaxons release Righton downs his family man tools to embody a lavish, rockstar alter ego; Jim.
“The alter ego of Jim came to me whilst promoting my previous album ‘The Performer’ during the first week of lockdown. Life shut down and became centered around family and domestic life. At the same time I had to promote The Performer. I was asked more and more to live stream concerts through various social media platforms. So. I’d put the kids to sleep, head downstairs to my garage studio, put on my Gucci suit and became someone else. The juxtaposition of these 2 lives felt extreme but also interesting to me. I created Jim. Jim would be the deluded rockstar, living out his fantasies from the confines of his garage. James was Dad.”
“To be clear Jim and James are both me. Jim is an exaggerated semi fictional version of me. James changes nappies, makes dinner and reads bedtime stories to his kids. Jim craves external validation, likes, followers and adds to playlists. But in truth you can never fully detach Jim from James. The balance and constantly shifting nature of this duality I find endlessly fascinating.”
Sunday 25th september James Righton plays in Melkweg, Amsterdam.
