Love & Desire by James Harries

It all started with an old camera, forgotten at the back of a cupboard. My son recently unearthed it for a school project, loaded it with a new roll of film, and took it out into the city. He then developed the images himself in a darkroom: grainy, “imperfect” photos that felt alive, evocative and human. One, in particular (a lopsided shot of a statue at dawn, with a blown-out sky and a skewed frame) was magical. It reminded me that beauty often lies in what we can’t control.

I’d already been working on a new record, tracking songs with layered arrangements and polished produced takes. But I scrapped it. Instead, I decided to make something more earthy and more immediate. I booked a studio for three days, invited some friends, and suggested (somewhat optimistically) that we try to record an entire album in that time.

I had all the songs written, but the arrangements were barely sketched out. We spent the first day getting comfortable in the space, setting up mics, and finding the sound we wanted. Over a shared meal, we laid down a few ground rules:
- No metronome or click tracks
- Record live, embrace the mic bleed
- Only a couple of overdubs per song

We wanted to leave no room for overthinking. Just play and let the songs come to life in real time.

What we captured over those two days is the heart of this album: performances that feel lived-in and unfiltered, shaped by instinct and a shared momentum. The songs carry the energy of friends in a room, listening closely to one another, responding in real time. There’s a sense of space and trust in the recordings: like conversations.

Like that photograph of the statue, unpolished, but full of soul.

jamesharriesmusic.com
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