Earlier this week, James Vincent McMorrow released his latest single, ‘Gone‘ from his forthcoming album out next year via Sony Music UK / RCA Records. The single was produced by McMorrow alongside Paul Epworth and Moon Willis. Today, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has released a #PlayAtHome performance of the single. The intimate performance was filmed in McMorrow’s hometown of Dublin, Ireland in The Palace Bar, one of Dublin’s best-loved original Victorian bars built in 1823. ‘Gone’, highlights McMorrow’s signature delivery, with his emotive falsetto on full display in both the single and the performance.
Speaking about the performance, McMorrow says, “I never did cover gig’s when I was starting out, so I missed the experience of playing Dublin pubs to loud raucous audiences drinking pints. I never thought my first experience playing in an iconic pub like The Palace, where Presidents and Revolutionaries used to sit and discuss the world, would be to an empty room, hollowed out by a year of nothingness. It hit me when I spoke to the owner, 3 generations of his family had run that place, the pride he had in it, how heart broken he was for his staff, how many times he’d tried to pivot and re-open, only to be closed again. It gave the song another dimension of meaning that I hadn’t thought about before, that feels like it’s in the performance when I watch it back. Not to sound cliché, but it made me realise what makes Ireland special, things I’d taken for granted, and I hope when we come out the other side of it, that those places and those people are still here.“
“‘Gone‘ is about the disintegration of relationships,” says McMorrow. “In my case, the disintegration of my relationship with myself. No song or lyric I’ve ever written has come as close to this one at capturing how I feel about life, how I hear it, my fear of it, my obsession with it, my belligerent belief that I can control it, my quiet acknowledgment in the middle of the night that I will never control a single thing. And there’s nothing wrong with any of it. There’s absolute beauty in embracing the chaos and the decay. I know I was exhausted pretending everything was all right.”
Last month, McMorrow dropped the album track ‘I Should Go‘, co-produced with Kenny Beats (Vince Staples, Denzel Curry, Idles) and since then, the track has been remixed and reimagined as an upbeat club song by GRAMMY nominated DJ and producer Nic Fanciulli and McMorrow also shared a stripped down acoustic version.
These tracks, along with the earlier released single ‘Headlights‘, mark the first new music McMorrow has released in some time and his first for new U.S. Label home RCA. James Vincent McMorrow is a platinum-selling artist who has independently clocked over 750 million streams and seen his music travel everywhere from Drake’s Views to Game Of Thrones.
An always-unpredictable, multifaceted talent, over the last decade, James Vincent McMorrow has established himself as an artist of signature style. On his own intuitive terms, James’ bigger-picture approach to each project may vary, but the idea of doing exactly what you need to do, and at exactly the right time, remains a constant. He has emerged as that rare modern act as integral to the worlds of hip-hop and textured R&B as he is the singer-songwriter roots of his early days. Behind McMorrow’s instantly-identifiable voice was a heartfelt, sometimes-cryptic storyteller – who, on his new music, also appears to have come to understand himself on a deeper level.
McMorrow most recently visited the States this past Fall, playing thrilling stripped back sets in intimate settings in both NYC and LA. Stay tuned for news about his North American touring plans.
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