James debut new songs live

James have been busy working on a new album, which is expected to be released in 2014. According to leader Tim Booth, the album was inspired by personal loss - last year three people close to him, including his 90 year old mother, died. He revealed to The Daily Record that though there are themes of loss and death that run through the album, there's still an uplifting element:

"Lyrically, there are a lot of themes of death because a lot of people died last year that I knew and was close to. That makes it sound depressing but some of it is uplifting – about letting go of things and not waiting for anything any more, about living life to the fullest."

James took some time out of working on the new album to play a couple of live shows, including a performance at the Belladrum 2013 festival in Scotland on August 3rd. During the show the band played two new songs, "Curse Curse" and "Moving On," both of which are expected to appear on the new album. Before performing "Curse Curse" Booth told the crowd "Curse Curse" would be released as a single, though he didn't offer any specific details on the release.

Check out pro-shot video of six songs from the Belladrum 2013 set including "Curse Curse" below (forward in ~ 12:15 for the track).  Though the band first debuted "Curse Curse" in June, the August 3rd video below is the first pro-shot footage of the new song.  [FYI, the other brand new song, "Moving On," was not included in the portion of the set that the BBC aired.  Fan filmed footage of "Moving On" captured live in Manchester earlier this year is also posted below.]



Setlist for set that aired on BBC

01. Johnny Yen
02. Waltzing Along
03. Curse Curse
04. Sit Down
05. Sometimes
06. Laid

"Moving On" (Manchester Arena, April 2013)



More video of James performing live - here's "Getting Away With It" shot at the Halden Pop Festival in Germany on August 8.



Published on August 19th, 2013 @ 6:11 AM