When Heart Meats Sole: James Eric

The first time I heard James Eric was at my friend Dan's apartment in Chicago. Dan and his girlfriend (now wife) used to have potluck dinner parties every week. One week Dan actually decided to host a few bands during one of these potluck dinners, and that's when I heard the great talent that is James Eric.

So many great people played that night, but I remember James because he was the shy guy that always came to the dinner parties and laughed at all my lame jokes (regardless of how truly lame they were). You remember nice people in Chicago...not because Chicago is full of a-holes, but because Chicago is full of people that mostly stick to themselves or their group of friends. So despite coming off as shy, he also came off as a friendly and approachable guy (which is a rarity in a big city such as Chicago).

Acoustic guitar in hand, the guy jammed his little heart out like there was no tomorrow. WOW. Impressive stuff. I don't remember the exact songs he played, but I believe some of them may have been covers. But regardless, I was a believer.

Live, you would label his stuff "alterna-folk" because guitars and vocals without drums or bass tend to come off as "folky." Live, I remember, he sounded very much like Isaac Brock with a tinge of Frank Black (or Black Francis, as some of you would say). Even when he played covers, he played them in his own way; you would forget you were listening to other people's words because you almost liked the way he delivered the songs better.

What I liked best about his live show was that he showed his true emotion; almost too much emotion some may say. Not fearing emotion, I actually welcomed his genuine expressions of love, hate, frustration, pain and angst through his acoustic representations. He didn't come off as cheesy, but as someone who is truly using music as his main megaphone for expression. He's not a talker, so to actually see this guy get on stage and be "no holds bar" about what is going on his brain is amazing. It's people like him that make music fun again.

As for his recorded stuff, I wouldn't say it sounds completely different than his live show, but it does. His recorded stuff has this pixie-fairyland feel to it; this intangible surreal-ness. Very eclectic yet simple in his delivery, James forces you to enter Neverland, and constantly feeds you candies and cakes and other goodies so that bloat up, and never fly away. You understand this is not reality...but yet, the music wraps around you anyway and you forget (if for even a second) that you're actually here, and not there. It simply leaves you yearning for more.

His voice, still very Frank Black-like in its delivery, compliments its sometimes Counting Crow-ish melodies. You can hear his influences loud and clear: the Shin's clarity and whimsical, poppy influence; Counting Crow's gritty alterna-country melodies; the Eels eccentric and eclectic lyrics and guitar licks; Isaac Brock's rawness; Sparklehorse's nostalgia and pain-stricken ironic happiness; Bob Dylan's poignant revelations... the list could literally go on and on, but I don't have all night to write this review. But in short, he knows his stuff, and he's not afraid to use it. This is a musician who has managed to make music without the pretension or faux rock star attitude, and brought it back to its roots, as a passionate outlet for expression.

Genre: Alterna-Pop Indie Rock (Alterna-folk live)
Influences: The Shins, Modest Mouse, Eels
Sounds like: A sad (but hopeful) shrub who is regrowing its branches; an unconventionally sexy stingray slowly gliding along; what Isaac Brock would have sounded like if he had gone acoustic during his "Ugly Cassanova" stage.
Would you buy the record?: Do you even have to ask? (Of course I would, silly)