“To be transparent, the beginning of the shutdown was really rough on me mentally like it was for most, if not all, of us,” said musician Brandon James.
That comes as little surprise. James has made a name for himself in the city’s live music scene throughout the last few years, opening for an eclectic mix of national touring artists like Earth Wind & Fire and Method Man. James’ “Soulful Sundays,” an event James ran at Reggie’s in the South Loop, was gaining in popularity in the months before the state’s shelter-in-place order. And 2020 was meant to be something of a turning point year for the artist.
But then everything changed. And with it, changed James’ approach to his music. The ongoing shelter-in-place orders — which have most severely affected the live music and nightlife industries — took an emotional toll on the artist. But instead of “settling,” as James said, he went to work adapting his craft. “What I love about me and working with a therapist (is) my mind is automatically set to figure it out,” said James. “It’s like, ‘What can I do?'”
What he did was return to writing solo. James typically writes with his band. “Almost as if it’s two different artists,” James said. But his time in lockdown helped him return to and rediscover his musical roots as a songwriter with a guitar, first and foremost.
“You get lost in the sauce with the band and the shows and this (and) that,” he said. “What I liked about this time is that it forced me to sit back down and approach music in a different way. Getting back to connecting to why music is important to me. Music just really really helped and I fell back in love with it and not just the work side of it.”
As a songwriter, the melody, tone and emotions come first for James. He writes from a place of what the song means to him in the moment, then expands and articulates from there. It’s a method that stems from the way he listens to music, too. “I don’t even need to know what’s being said. There are songs that are in totally different languages, but the emotion behind the melody really moves me. I just fell in love with that,” he said.
Rediscovering some of his favorite artists like Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, H.E.R., and Stevie Wonder (who James calls his “vocal bible”) also helped him tap into a song craft process that made him feel safe, secure and motivated during a time of uncertainty in the arts. “Before I had the band, before I was able to perform live all the time, that’s all I had. Just writing music and going into the studio. That’s what it felt like again,” he said.
The result is a new three-song EP, “Drifting,” released in June. Compared to past releases, “Drifting” is a more introspective and personal musical experiment.
“I feel like everything I had been doing was what I needed to do. Of course I love music and i’ve been writing. It means a lot to me. But some of it was just, for the most part, what I felt like people needed to hear,” admitted James. “I think for the first time, I put this little EP together because this is what I really want to show the world.”
On the title track for the record, James writes about what he envisions true love to be. It’s a song encapsulating what he would say to somebody and what he wants somebody to say to him. With a simple guitar structure and crisp falsettos, the track is a piercing showcase for one of the city’s strongest and most captivating vocalists. The video for the track, which premieres Friday, is similar to how James approached the making of this music. His last video featured his entire band, but in this black-and-white stunner, only James and his guitar player appear, along with a handful of couples displaying the diversity of love. The result is an intimate treat.
“It’s so people can just focus on the vibe and music instead of the spectacle,” he said. “Everything is all party and turn up music all the time. And I was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna put (this EP) out and be as personal as possible.”
“Drifting” is available on streaming platforms.
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.
