Singer-songwriter James returns with the infectious and heartfelt new single ‘I Don’t Want To Fall In Love’ offering a first glimpse at his upcoming album ‘Soft’.
Blending etherial electronics with plucking live instrumentation and his affecting, emotive and intoxicatingly fragile and honest vocal delivery, ‘I Don’t Want To Fall in Love’ captures a unique, R&B tinted indie-com-electronic-pop sound. Awash with airy synths, plucking bass and shuffling electronic beats, the track balances it’s pop melodies with nu-soul undertones before introducing bright, plucked guitars in the chorus to add a breezy, vibrant, Vampire Weekend-esque sheen.
Speaking about the track, James adds: “This is the opening track on the album and feels like a good representation of a tension that runs through the album.
This song is about trying to control love and when it happens. I wrote it at a time when I was seeing someone really special but also felt like I wanted to enjoy being single. I’d only recently had my heart broken and the idea of falling in love again felt like too much.
There was definitely a growing tension, the closer I got to the person and that comes through in the song. It’s like I’m kicking and screaming as I’m being dragged into ‘the deep end’ as I call it. There was something resonant about the image of treading water in a swimming pool. Part of me wants to surrender and say ‘well, this is where you are’ so let go, the other part of me is hanging on and thrashing. This is also the opener to the album, which feels very fitting, that tension of wanting and fearing love is a huge part of the record.”
Listen below:
