There are some classic artists that you can listen to time and again and never grow tired of hearing them. I’d rank crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Al Martino (to name but a few) in this category. These are the voices that transport you back in time to the golden age of music when the wireless was king and one of the only ways you had to discover new music.
Of course, nowadays we are inundated with ways of finding our new music (including sites like this), so imagine my delight when I stumbled across a modern artist that had the same effect as the greats listed above. Enter Idiot Glee, a crooner for the digital age.
At 23, James Friley sings in a style that aches with nostalgia. Trained as a classical pianist from the age of 7, as he developed in his teenage years he wrote and improvised his own solo piano compositions. Finding that they didn’t fit in with a fledgling rock band, he went alone. Influenced by the discovery of Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (an album he played around 100 times in a year), Idiot Glee took shape releasing a debut single last year.
With a first album due in June (Editor’s note – Looks like it’s at least out in the U.K. right now!), I thought this would be the ideal time for you to find out what you’ve been missing. Have a listen to “All Packed Up” and you’ll see just what I mean, from the doo wop style opening to the layered harmonies, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s evocative of the era I mentioned earlier. We’re making him One To Watch because there is enough of a modern twist here to give Idiot Glee a sound of its own and that makes us very excited about what’s to come.
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