In Conversation: James Irwin
Last month, longtime Montrealer and Toronto transplant James Irwin released Stars Blue Wheel, his fourth full-length record to date. I’ve known James for some years now, and have always swooned for his gorgeous songs and kind, gentle demeanor - both onstage and off. Though his likeable style cannot be contained in a single phrase and his albums vary in terms of instrumentation and even genre, there is a wonderful continuity to his repertoire. That unifying thread, for me, is his dreamy voice coupled with his evocative lyricism. It could also be that I find myself relating to a lot of the themes explored in his music, his songs unfolding authentically and in harmony with each other regardless of the where and the when.
I recently sat down in my kitchen for a video call with James, where we discussed his new album of cosmic country songs, his all-star band lineup (a veritable “who’s who” of the Montreal music community), and whether or not I was wearing pants for the interview (I was). I also rambled excitedly for quite some time upon learning that he is currently writing a novel, but fear not - I took some time to trim down the 45-minute conversation for brevity and coherence. Without further ado...
- Nick Maas
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CnC: How long was the project of writing, recording, and releasing Stars Blue Wheel, from start to finish? And how did you go about tracking all of the parts?
James: Starting around the end of 2017 until the middle of 2018, I was going back to Montreal to The Pines regularly, and I recorded 25 demos there myself. Then I went back in June 2018 to record bed tracks for those 25 songs. And then I did what I hadn’t done in the past with my old albums - I had so many songs, so I chose a group of songs that were all in the same world. Whereas, at least my last two albums, had conflicting aesthetics that I put together. This time, I decided that I was going to choose all the ballads and put them together into one album. But everyone else (other than the bed tracks) - all these people recorded their own parts at their own houses. I just sent them tracks. I was like, “Pietro [Amato], I want keyboards on these four songs,” and he sent me ideas, and then we’d work it out. Everything was done and mixed by the end of last summer - Graham Van Pelt mixed it here in Toronto. But I wanted to finish this draft of my book before I put it out, so I decided to wait until this spring.
CnC: I noticed that some of the musical credits for the record, such as ambient guitar played by Luke Loseth, were for parts that weren’t ultimately included in the final version. What made you decide to cut those parts?
James: When I was recording the demos, I was basically just doing scratch guitar so I could get the bass and drums down. For some of those demos, Luke was playing live as well. But then once I got the pedal steel parts done [played by Mike Feuerstack], I realized that I wanted it to be basically in everything. Luke played on just a few songs, and the pedal steel ended up taking up that space eventually.
CnC: Yeah, that makes sense. The pedal steel guitar is amazing. It’s such a cool aesthetic for the whole record. That was one of my favorite sounds on the album.
James: Yeah… I asked Mike to play on a couple of songs, and then when I heard it, I was like, “shit, maybe I’ll just get him to do a couple more.” So I sent him a few more, and it also kicked ass, so I just ended up using him on almost everything.
CnC: Do you want to talk about the theme of dying, or if that’s too strong, the theme of aging or of time passing that’s prevalent on the album? That’s something that stuck with me after listening through. I think my favorite song is “Dreamland,” and those lyrics really resonated with me: [“Wherever you’ve been, wherever you go… nothing’s gonna come with you to dreamland.”].
James: I guess there are a couple ways to answer that. The first is that a lot of the songs were written directly after a famous songwriter died. “Long Black River” is the oldest one, and I wrote it after Jason Molina died. “David Jones” I wrote after David Bowie died. “Find and Carry” I wrote after Leonard Cohen died - like the day after. “Carrie” I wrote after Tom Petty died. And, I was kind of thinking a lot about Katherine Peacock when I wrote “Marfa Lights.” So, all of those songs, they’re like starting points. It’s not really about their deaths - it’s a starting point for a type of feeling. And the songs were all informed by their styles - except David Bowie. I ended up finishing that song after Leonard Cohen died, and thinking about it as if it were a Leonard Cohen song about David Bowie dying, essentially. But the thing is, I think my first record was about very similar themes, and what I decided very consciously to do with this album, was to choose the ballads that were all about what I consider to be my core thematic interests, and put them all together. I think of music as images, so I ask myself, “why do I consistently return to the same colour palette?” In my mind it’s all in colour and it’s blue, silver, black, and yellow. It’s like a nighttime moonlit landscape that I’m always trying to evoke. A particular kind of melancholy feeling, full of rivers and night skies. And once I saw that pattern, I decided to try to interrogate it to its fullest extent. In a way, to put it to bed and move on, or something. It’s not necessarily a central thing in all my music, but it’s always kind of there.
CnC: Before this current period of pandemic lockdown, were you gigging much locally, in Toronto?
James: I was playing shows, I would say, somewhat frequently. I had shows planned for this album release, but cancelled them obviously, and then prior to that it had really slowed down this year mostly because of my novel. I’ve still been writing songs all along, but the part I had to give up in order to work (as much as I have to work in Toronto to survive) and also write the novel was the admin-type stuff. Like promotion and those sorts of things. I came here to do a masters in creative writing, and right after I finished that, I flirted with the idea for a bit of thinking that maybe I don’t need to make music, maybe I will be happier if I’m not focusing on art all the time. Maybe that would be an easier way to live a life. I really thought that. And then I quickly discovered, no, that’s not the case for me. So I’ve been making more music than ever since I moved here, but with less emphasis on performing. Ultimately though, once I’m done with this book, I have a lot of music to record and I’d like to do that. And I’d like to find a way that I’m comfortable with to perform it with some sort of regularity.
CnC: Do you have a favourite song on your record? And tell me why if you do.
Album art for Stars Blue Wheel
James: “You Cannot Know the Emptiness” and “Dreamland” are probably my favourites. Usually after I’ve made an album, I feel mixed feelings about a lot of it, and good about some of it. This time, I feel like every song is right. It’s the first time that I feel that way. I think everything’s in its right place - but those two songs stand out to me. They came together...truthfully, I guess.
CnC: What’s next for you in terms of music? More folk/country songs, or something different?
James: Something different, I think. Of all of the songs that I recorded bed tracks for, the other half of them that I didn’t select for this record were more like pop songs. So that’s the next thing I’m going to do. More of a pop album. I mean, my version of pop, because they’re not really that pop. They’re much poppier, but the point is that they are more focused on the external world, whereas this album is more internally focused. It’s all about an introverted, spiritual type of questioning. These next songs are more outward looking, thinking about society.
CnC: Thanks James! This has been great. Is there anything else you want to add?
James: Hmm. Really just that my main feeling about the new record is that it’s kind of like a song cycle. It’s definitely the first record that I’ve ever made where I feel like it’s a single unit from start to finish. I think that the imagery collects meaning as it starts to reappear throughout the songs. These songs tell a kind of story all together.
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Check out Stars Blue Wheel below then consider clicking the “buy” button on the player, especially if you are reading this interview on its release date of July 3rd because Bandcamp is waiving their fees for all purchases on this day, meaning that James Irwin will get 100% of the profit from sales on this day.