barbarossa - 'imager'

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The very wonderful James Mathe aka Barbarossa is back with a brand new album that just oozes class. It's got his trademark singing where he really hits the high notes with gusto, there's the uplifting melancholy but where before the electronica had a lo-fi and retro feel to it, he's replaced it with something meatier. I think the change works very well. Here's the lead track from the album.

barbarossa - 'where do we go love'

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The great man himself helped me out here. I picked up a copy of the Memory Laps EP from Rough Trade recently - a lovely accompaniment to the Bedrum Cassettes EP I already own and whilst working from home put it on for the first time. Of course they're all great tracks, the cover of Bon Iver's 'Stacks' being particularly good but I've had track 3 on loop all morning and as much as I kept looking, I couldn't find the track name but a tweet to the artist himself and I quickly had the answer. Apparently the new album will feature a new version of this but possibly under a different title. I can't wait to hear the new arrangement. 

barbarossa - 'battles'

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No sooner has he released the excellent 'Butterfly Plague' EP than along comes another heart-wrenchingly beautiful tune from James Mathe aka Barbarossa. He does this so well without relying on mawkish lyrics or cliched tunes. This chap deserves to be a massive star when he's so consistently good. 

barbarossa - 'butterfly plague'

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James Mathe returns in the guise of his alter ego with this song from his latest EP released next month.  It has all the tell-tale signs of a Mathe production too. It's electronic but with a lo-fi feel, the confident yet understated vocals and a warmth that you just can't fake.

james mathe

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James Mathe is certainly one to watch in the near future. He's been around a few years now under the moniker 'Barabrossa' but recently he's broken free from that to record under his own name. I first came across him on the limited edition Bedrume Cassettes ep that he released at the end of last year. They were rough and ready demos in the main and act as a marker for where he intends to pitch his band musically. He's been busy recently touring with and supporting Johnny Flynn and working with another name to watch, Saint Saviour. 

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I haven't gone back to listen to Barbarossa but the Bedrume ep in its handmade cover has become something of a permanent fixture on the top of my cd player. It's a down-tempo sound without being maudlin and suits Mathe's voice very well. He's certainly an accomplished enough songwriter to be bold enough to call one of the tunes a poem. There's an unexpected bonus too in a rather lovely cover of Terence Trent D'arby's 'Wishing Well'. Even though it's primarily a keyboard affair it has a home-made lo-fi feel to it with what sounds like a Casiotone. Bearing that in mind the compositions are surprisingly detailed and it's easy to forget that these are demos with (presumably) little post-production. 

The load (demo) by JamesMathe

He has alluded to an album in the near future and I'm really looking forward to that as and when it arrives. In the meantime he's posted online a few days ago a new ep: 'Memory Laps'. 

Memory Laps EP by JamesMathe