Safe with James Gillespie

Born and raised in the U.K, James Gillespie initiated his career in the music industry by releasing covers. In 2017, James got to go on stage with Pink during her concert in Berlin, they sang one of Pink’s songs James had covered previously, “Don’t Let Me Get Me”.

In 2019, James Gillespie put out his first original songs through two EP’s,  “Lost” and “Want and Worries”. In “Lost” the singer songwriter presents us three songs in six tracks, the first three in studio version and the last three tracks in a live version. Later in the year, James released his debut alternative album “Safe”. The album is a compilation of the songs the singer had already released in his EPs plus a few new great tracks. “Safe” starts us of with “What You Do” , the song keeps a slow paced rhythm while it introduces us to James raspy but powerful voice. Just like the majority of his songs, “Hold Me Down” is a heartfelt song with intense lyrics that gets stuck in your head, it describes James struggles through life and heartbreak.

Following “Hold Me Down” we have the first track from the first EP, “Lost”. “Lost” describes how the singer feels helpless without his loved one by his side, however the song carries a hopeful tone to it, maybe the artist had some hope things could still work out. The most popular single from the album is “Dead In the Water”, the beginning of the song takes us on an immersive journey due to the distortion of the sounds, making it appear it is further away. The rhythm of the song is laid out by the snapping of fingers and there is a constant play between the main melody and an eco which appears to portrait James conscience.

All throughout “Safe” we can sense some indie rock vibes, but it is the testimony tone that James puts into his songs that labels the album genre as singer songwriter. In 2020, James Gillespie released two songs, “Rescue Me” and “Run”. In the first one James asks himself “Will this be my final song?” , now we know it wasn’t but that was a pretty scary thought. 

In “Run” James gives us an insight on how he perceives himself, how he deals with his mental health and how he feels like nothing he does is worth it. It is a really relatable song , we all feel down sometimes and there is nothing wrong with that. In 2021, James Gillespie teased us with an album that did not come, but he released a few singles, including a cover of the song “Smile”, originally composed by Charlie Chaplin. 

2021 did not bring us the album we wanted but 2022 just started so I will be waiting to hear James Gillespie piercing voice in his new songs any time now.