''Post Tropical'' is the second full-length album by the Irish singer-songwriter

James Vincent McMorrow James Vincent McMorrow is an Irish singer and songwriter. Career McMorrow's debut album, ''Early in the Morning'', was released in Ireland in February 2010, and in the United States and Europe in 2011, to widespread acclaim. He made his UK te ...

. It marks a move away from the largely acoustic

indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...

of his 2010 debut '' Early in the Morning'', towards a more soulful direction, and the inclusion of electronic instruments such as a

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...

,Copsey, Robert.
A bold new soundscape
. Hearst Magazines, January 07, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014. brassWard, James.
Likely forecast looks as if Post Tropical will go down a storm
. ''

Irish Daily Mirror Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014. and strings, combined with hip-hop beats and 1960s soul influences.Tony Clayton-Lea.
James Vincent McMorrow: Post Tropical
. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014. The album was preceded in October 2013 by the single and album opening track "Cavalier". The single's video was directed by Irish director

Aoife McArdle Aoife McArdle ( ) is an Irish director, writer, and cinematographer working in film and television. Early life Aoife McArdle grew up in Omagh, Northern Ireland. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin where, alongside cr ...

, one of three short films she made for the album.Aoife McArdle
. Slate.ie. Retrieved January 11, 2014. Asked about the dramatic change in direction, McMorrow admitted that he consciously sought to move away from the sound of his debut, and had no interest in repeating himself. He believes that musicians have a responsibility "to make new and interesting things. And not just go, 'Well that works, so I'm just gonna...'" The song "Glacier" was included in a Spanish Christmas Lottery ('El Gordo') advert, aired in November 2014, in which someone who hadn't bought a lottery ticket from the bar he always went to, tears up when the barman charges him with 21 euros; "1 for the coffee and 20 for this lottery ticket".

Recording

The album was recorded in 2013 in the small desert town of Tornillo, 55 miles south of

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

in Texas. The studio is located on a

pecan The pecan (''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, ...

farm, and McMorrow found the location "the most surreal place to work", and one that helped add to the tone of the album and inspire his creativity. He said "I think it's kind of engrained in the record, more than any pinpointed thing. I can hear the hot bedded air in this part. You can hear the birds in the pianos."

Critical reception

''Post Tropical'' has been met with generally positive reviews. At '' Alternative Press'', Mischa Pearlman rated the album four stars, writing that "his half-raspy, half-angelic vocals repeat in icy desperation", and this "makes you want to freeze to death." In addition, Pearlman noting that on the album he "demonstrates both his versatility and magnificence by wrapping his voice around 10 delicate but different songs." On January 10, Tony Clayton-Lea of ''

'' described "McMorrow's falsetto voice, which is used to such good effect that you're sometimes left almost breathless" and wondered if it marked "an album of the Year so early into 2014". Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Harriet Gibsone describes an "incredibly beautiful record...woozy Americana", and a sound "so sweetly sentimental it makes

Alt-J Alt-J (stylised as alt-J, real name Δ) are an English indie rock band formed in 2007 in Leeds. Their lineup includes Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals), and formerly Gwilym Sainsbur ...

sound like NWA". A number of critics have drawn comparisons with the experimentation of James Blake and Bon Iver's second album.Lamont, Tom.
Songwriter James Vincent McMorrow stuns on 'Post Tropical'
. ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debuted at No. 76 on ''Billboard'' 200, and No. 20 on Top Rock Albums for charts dated February 1, 2014, selling 5,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold 18,000 copies in the US as of August 2016.

Track listing

Chart positions

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums James Vincent McMorrow albums Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch