Independent Australian musician, Newcastle-based James Reynold peddles a brand of indie ballads reminiscent of an earlier decade.
His debut single is the glorious 'Goodbye Hobart', a golden slice of indie pop with healthy lashings of folk. A double serving please.
The gentle strumming of guitar is strengthened by James' aching vocals that evoke a distinct image in the mind's eye of your perfect escape from reality, no matter where you're at.
Ahead of James releasing his first EP at the end of February, scenestr is stoked to be able to premiere an exclusive stream of 'Goodbye Hobart' today. Let your ears wander over here.
"'Goodbye Hobart' was written in a couple of manic hours in, you guessed it, Hobart during a very misguided month where I sort of just drove off aimlessly to Tasmania," muses James.
"I recorded it all half a year or so later at home. I kind of just pieced the layers together slowly, brought a handful of close friends in to work with me on it and over time just kept refining until it felt done.
"The whole track is basically an escapism ballad. When it wrote it, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with myself. "I don't want to glorify depression or anything silly, but there genuinely was this inescapable feeling of hopelessness where I felt like I was done creatively for some ridiculous reason.
"Having spent so many years playing guitar in and out of different bands, I think a big part of it was that until very recently I hadn't found my own voice or songwriting rhythm.
"I can't rationalise it. 'Goodbye Hobart' is just a song I wrote when I was mentally f...ed."
