James Vincent McMorrow's voice is like a tranquil aperitif that's easy to digest and hard to mediate. On his latest release for Vagrant Records, the Dublin-artist vaults the falsetto and ditches a lower-range that makes Post Tropical a pleasant sonic landscape. Compared to his previous work, Early In The Morning (2011), McMorrow focuses more on delivering a textured, all-senses-included musical accompaniment than a swinging, upbeat varying melody.
Each track breathes reflection, from the medium-fast, lazy tempo to the thought-provoking build up and marriage of instrumentals to the lyrical content, when it's comprehensible. McMorrow gets so lost in the soft, hazy breathlessness of his words that they dissolve in a native-twang of steel guitar or creeping synthesizer. "Cavalier" is a precedent to the other tracks that follow. McMorrow's voice leads in a whisper until an anthemic organ builds and cymbal brushes diffuse the clear pauses. Sometimes, like on "The Lakes" and "Repeating," he uses dramatic fortes that collide into a hummingbird fury, never stopping to rest, heartbeat on high. "Post-Tropical" and "All Points" meet the same crescendo effect but just as quickly float into a droned out guitar reverb.
Lyric wise, from what is clear enough to pick-up, Post-Tropical mentions the experience of feeling a stranger to your own body. Lines like, "Sometimes my hands don't feel like my own/ I need someone to love/ I need someone to hold" and "I was someone else" tint the flowing, ambient tunes with a slightly eerie tone. On a whole, though, that's what saves the work from being indistinguishable. He's human, not otherworldly, craving an existence outside himself that can't be found in a literal escape, such as a warm-weather getaway. The last two track titles, "Glacier" and "Outside, Digging" point to a divergence in content, not sound, that suggests McMorrow is ready to uncover another layer of his psyche. Let's hope he tones down the fairy-pitch, though, as magical as it can be.
Grade: C+
