The Weight Of Many Winters (studio album) by Graeme James

From Mercury 01/03/2021 16:36

85/100

Graeme James is a New Zealand-based Singer/Songwriter. This is a 26 minute EP released on January 1st, 2021. He was a busker for years and has been recording his own songs since 2012.

The music here is extremely melancholy and introspective. The instruments (all played by James) are all played with a beautiful sadness. There is acoustic guitar of course, and piano, but also some beautiful violin, Mandolin, some accordion, some bare-bones drumming, and other instruments to fill in the sound.

The first 2 songs of this collection are very slow, ruminative, acoustic songs (both beautiful and mesmerizingly austere). Then with the 3rd track "The Voyage of the James Caird" things pick up quite a bit, with a somewhat driving rhythm, and a faster tempo, all building up suspense while James sings a narrative about a doomed ship crew.

With the track "Northern Lights" James sings in an almost hopeful, loving way with some sweet guitar and some tasty piano chords and mandolin. As the song crescendos and the added vocals come in, the song goes to another level of sublime.

Track 5 is a beautiful song which is features a female vocal to add another layer of beauty.

Finally the final song is probably the best of the bunch. "Time" is just a starkly honest song about a pervading fear of growing old and never truly living.

When James sings " It pains me now to say, I've never lived a day like it was my last one. And I probably never will." its so heartbreaking and relatable. Later, in the closing seconds of this remarkable album, James leaves us with a truly haunting yet hopeful line:

"Maybe its enough to be carried by your love through days unending."

The lyrics at first hit me as being the same old poetic singer/songwriter fare. But as I listened and paid attention I was struck by some very incisive and crushing lines about aging and sadness and hope and love and all those vague yet powerful concepts. The lyrics really work with the intimate and earnest singing by James as well as the sparse and tender instrumentals.

This is a really high quality winter album, full of ghostly images and sparse and beautiful melodies. It was what I wanted to hear on this cold January morning. Its highly recommended for fans of other earnest, poetic, somewhat philosophical or romantic singer/songwriters such as Iron & Wine or Damien Rice.