The past six years have been a blur for British pop artist James Morrison since the release of his first CD, Undiscovered, which ended up selling over 2 million copies. However, the past couple years have been nothing but easy with the loss of his father, for whom he cared deeply for. From the ashes of this tragedy came his new album, The Awakening, released on September 26th.
When listening to The Awakening, you can feel the raw emotions that are contained within each song. Each track differs immensely from the next, from “Forever”, a track with more of a theatrical flow, to “Up”, a duet with YouTube sensation Jessie J. Morrison’s objective was to take this overflow of emotions and curiosities and present them in song hoping to reach others who are looking for answers. He did nothing short of accomplishing this.
Horns, back-up vocals and James’ soulful rasp are the backbone to this album, which are featured very nicely in “One Life.” Starting with soft piano, “One Life” builds slowly to a climactic bridge of strings and vocals. But what really set this song apart from the rest, however, are the creative yet inspirational lyrics that have the power to strike the chords in all of our hearts. James is a lyrical genius who offers comfort in profound lines like “If I knew yesterday what I know today, where would I be tomorrow?”
Deeper in the album comes an up-tempo groovy tune that expresses Morrison’s love for music. “Slave to the Music” beautifully features his ability to riff with his seamless jump to falsetto. This “foot-tapper” was his first single from the album and fourteenth overall.
James Morrison has started to make his mark in the singer-songwriter category, doing what artists have been known to do. Nothing captures the audience more than creating works of meaning and emotion, something Morrison has been doing for the past six years. His message is clear to those of us who take the time to listen: “I have been waiting for this awakening for so long… I was slowly dying, it’s like the first day I’m alive.”
