Today, Wendy James unveiled her new single, ‘Everything Is Magic’. Taken from her forthcoming album ‘The Shape Of History’ (25th October), ‘Everything Is Magic’ is the follow-up to last month’s debut single ‘Freedomsville’.
Written, produced, and mixed by James and recorded in West London and New York City, ‘The Shape Of History’ is her tenth album. It will be available digitally, on deluxe vinyl, and on deluxe CD.
To coincide with the album release, James will embark on a two-week in-store tour, making appearances at London’s Rough Trade East and Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Assai stores.
“I needed this song to soar, to be ethereal, uplifting and exultant, cresting a darker undertone with emotional builds and dynamics”, reflects James on ‘Everything Is Magic’. “The magnificence of human nature when it rises up in the face of adversity and meets great challenges, endures great suffering and remains graceful and humble, with awe-inspiring dignity. The impermanence of one’s own existence, merely the passage of eternity. The will to remain in the light. This song does exactly what a song should do, even with no lyrics to guide you, one will feel the weight of emotions, of history, of life, sometimes lifting up, sometimes falling down and sometimes comfortably numb. Some of the lyrics are personal to me, there is a subjective truth here and I get a wry pleasure from them, but I’ve written broadly too, everyone can relate.”
Watch the video for ‘Everything Is Magic’ – BELOW:
“My songwriting has always been a wide mix of sounds, which naturally reflect the different music and references I have and love. My sweet spot is mid-late 70’s downtown NYC New Wave Punk: CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. It is from this sound that my taste for sequenced and dark NY and Euro electro and no-wave evolves. ‘The Shape Of History’ was recorded on Scrubs Lane, West London with Alex Ward, Harry Bohay and James Sclavunos. I then went off to NYC and Brooklyn to record the pianos and organs with Dave ‘The Moose’ Sherman. Overdubbing continued with Al Lawson at the engineering helm in his Shepherd’s Bush studio and then I went back to Berkeley, CA to mix with Jesse Nichols before mastering with Fred Kevorkian in Brooklyn NY. I have spent so much time with this music, I know it note-for-note and I love it and I am so happy for you to now make it your own”.
“‘The Shape Of History’ has a lot about love in it, a lot about appreciation of oneself, one’s life and importantly, of others. It is life’s arc of starting out, blooming into something and in some ways maturing. I don’t think my music has got older, I know I’ve not gone mellow! My attitude can be more ferocious and fearless than ever, but there is an acquired wisdom, which naturally comes after having been alive for a few decades! ‘The Shape Of History’ is a love letter and a Thank you note to life so far. The culmination of my tenth album is the result of co-musicians and engineers who I’ve worked with previously and with whom I share a language. We know each other, we choose to work together. We enjoy each other’s talents and personalities. There is a happiness, a belonging, when we meet up, and an open and determined desire to achieve what we know we have to”.
“From meeting Nick Christian Sayer and forming Transvision Vamp, the two of us walking into EMI Records and demanding to see the head of Artists and Repertoire, Dave Ambrose. Getting signed and making our hits of the late 80’s and 90’s. From collaborating with Elvis Costello and mixing that album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood where The Stones mixed ‘Exile On Main St’, then moving to NYC to start writing and recording as a solo artist, all the gigs I’ve played and the friends I’ve made around the world, the astounding, incredible, wonderful people whose lives I’ve crossed paths with… I am so grateful for it all.”
October
Fri 25th – Newcastle, Beyond Vinyl (Evening)
Sat 26th – Edinburgh, Assai (Daytime)
Sat 26th – Glasgow, Assai (Evening)
Sun 27th – Nottingham, Rough Trade (Evening)
Mon 28th – Liverpool, Rough Trade (Evening)
Tues 29th – Bristol, Rough Trade (Evening)
Weds 30th – London, Rough Trade East (Evening)
Thurs 31st – Portsmouth, Pie & Vinyl (Daytime)
Thurs 31st – Gosport, A Slice of Vinyl (Evening)
November
Fri 1st – Southampton, Vinilo (Evening)
Sat 2nd – Kingston Upon Thames, Banquet (Late Afternoon)
Sun 3rd – Oxford, Truck (Late Afternoon)
Mon 4th – Marlborough, Sound Knowledge (Evening)
Tues 5th – Leeds, Crash (Evening)
Weds 6th – Preston, Action Records (Evening)
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