Jim Moray New Album and Low Culture Podcast

Anyone familiar with multi award winning folk musician Jim Moray and his cutting edge music will know that he’s a key player both on the folk scene and beyond. He was the first musician I came across that would perform folk music on his own terms…’singing old songs in a new way’, he was a genuine breath of fresh air.  Whilst others are now following suit things were very different when he ventured onto the scene in 2001.  He’s been on quite a journey since which is reflected in his diverse musical offerings…it may be that he has now conquered one of his peaks (as I dare say he has many) as his latest album Upcetera  is described as being like “learning to do it all again from scratch”. That’s a statement filled with promise if ever there was one.

Drawing influence from the systems music of composers like Nyman and Reich (another of his formative passions) Upcetera features dramatically orchestrated Child ballads reimagined as torch songs or a kind of English Fado. It’s an album that places the narrative element of these songs centre stage, with Jim Moray’s supple soaring vocal leading the listener by the hand through strange old stories.

Jim will launch his new album on September 9th at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory with a 9-piece band (also featuring video projections). See dates at the end of this article.

Low Culture Podcast

Jim has a canny ear for music and whenever I’ve met him he’s always had something interesting to say about the current scene as well as the future of music. Taking its name from his 2008 album, Jim has launched a new podcast called the  Low Culture Podcast. It’s available every Tuesday and each week he’ll be talking to a different musician, writer or artist about their work both in and outside of the folk bubble. It’s already made a big impression going in at No. 2 on the iTunes Podcast charts.

Listen and download direct below. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Pocketcasts, or with the RSS feed. In his first he spoke to Jon Boden and in his latest he has Lynched!

Jim Moray Tour Dates

jimmoray.co.uk