It is fair to say that James Dyer’s life to date has always pointed in the direction of becoming the singer-songwriter he is today. A childhood home filled with music, a sibling’s record collection to plunder and explore, musical lessons, busking through the cafes and clubs of Europe, and then bagging support slots with everyone from Frank Turner to Ocean Colour Scene to Passenger. To find him doing what he does is, perhaps, has a touch of inevitability about it.
While the responsibilities of family life mean that he now works and collaborates from his home studio, it also means that the songs he writes have become more grounded and personal, more mature and relatable, something that only comes with personal growth and a firsthand experience of the things that are really important in life.
As his latest single, “How Do You Feel?” shimmers and shines from the speakers, you can feel every step of that journey, all the experience and expertise of his formative years bristling within. This is music made by a worldly artist, someone who has been there, done that, and sees the bigger picture.
Too smart to be merely pop, too humble to be indie, and too deftly forged to be rock, it nevertheless has elements of all of those – accessibility, effortless cool, and an insatiable energy. It also perfectly balances the synth’s digital dexterity with the old-school analogue of the guitar’s driving force. This is music made in the sweetest of sweet spots.
A song exploring the idea of having to watch close friends lose their way in life, while you hope that they can find the courage to open up and talk to you about it, knowing that a burden shared is a burden halved, as the saying goes, this is not only a clever song but a deeply themed set of lyrics.
All that and you still can’t help but want to dance to it!
