James Morgan: My Best Move
Often described as a seasoned traveller, an outlaw and a part-time pirate, James Morgan has tended to steer away from writing love songs. However with the release of his new single, it seems he may have set sail in a different direction.
Hey James, your new single is great! How does it feel to have a new song out in the world?
It feels pretty good putting stuff out again, it’s been rather a long time since I released anything, so this is fun!
What was the inspiration for this song?
I definitely wanted to write a love song, as that’s not my usual content, and I know I wanted to write a kind of “diary song” about meeting my wife Abigail. I’ve always been a “bottom-up” songwriter, usually starting with the riff or chords before hammering some lyrics and melody over the top of it.
The idea of using a gaming motif for the whole song came about rather organically, I seem to remember. I have a former co-worker who is a massive chess fiend and was getting me back into the game at the time, so some of that may have leaked over. But that’s just being a songwriter! Take anything from anywhere and stick it in a song.
The inspiration to put music out again however was definitely something I can narrow down. A really good friend of mine who was also a musician passed away just over a year ago, and something said at his funeral just gave me that push to start going again. That and a chance conversation with Sam from Gingerdog Records and here we are! It’s been a fantastic experience working with everyone at the label, and I hope it continues.
How would you describe your genre or style of writing?
Genre is a difficult one! For years I’ve just been going with a Folk-Punk description, but I do think recently I’ve been moving more into a general singer-songwriter space. I suppose it depends how you define genre, by intent or by output? I mean, I write songs about pirates and assassins and sailing and stuff, but also about more contemporary ‘normal’ issues as well.
My bass player recently said that my songs were “prog disguised under a layer of pirate stuff” but I’m not sure how well that’ll fit on poster.
What would be your Desert Island Disk?
A Desert Island Disc is a hell of a tricky one. There’s so much great music! I suppose if we’re going by inspiration I think Frank Turner’s Love Ire & Song, which was a major inspiration to me from a songwriting perspective when I was at university and is still a brilliant album. I remember my flatmate playing it in the car on a journey to a gig and I just went “oh my god this is brilliant.” It’s always great when that stuff hits you.
You previously wrote a song called 'I Don't Write Love Songs', is it safe to say 'My Best Move' is a departure from this songwriting rule of yours?
I was wondering when this would come up! Yes, Don’t Write Love Songs was a track off my last album This Is What We Do, and it was kind of written as a reaction both against my own writing more than anything. The point of the song was that for most of my life I sucked at writing love songs because put bluntly I was a whiny little emo kid, and what I knew about functional relationships and life in general would fit on the back of a postage stamp. (apologies to my ex-girlfriends, I was awful).
My Best Move is definitely a departure, but it’s also an experiment; can I write about this in a way that isn’t navel-gazing and self absorbed? I hope the answer is yes. Weirdly a lot of my students who have discovered my music say that I Don’t Write Love Songs is one of their favourites, so I’m probably going to have to resurrect it for live shows!
Is there more original music on the way? Have you got any shows coming up so we can hear the song live?
More music is definitely in the pipeline! We’ve got a few songs were thinking of for the next few singles, and then hopefully an album at some point. In terms of live shows I’m booking some stuff up at the moment and there’s going to be some exciting full band shows on the horizon soon, but while that’s all getting sorted you can catch me at the Open Mic I run at the Halberd Inn in Ipswich on the first Friday of the month.
