Gone is the fedora hat and long hair, it’s a new look for James Bay, both musically and visually. After his debut album, Chaos And The Calm (2015), which included the Grammy nominated Hold Back The River, Bay has returned with his sophomore LP, titled Electric Light. However, this time around, Bay is creating something for a “bigger audience”, having been inspired by Florence & The Machine smashing the Glastonbury pyramid stage way back in 2015. The inspiration for this record does not stop there however, as the 27 year old began listening more to Prince, David Bowie, Lorde and Frank Ocean before going into the studio and creating something he could hang his fedora on.
And it shows, with some more electronica influenced tracks (In My Head, Wild Love) and a hell of a lot more soul (I Found You). The lead single Pink Lemonade’s scratchy and rough guitar reminds you of a record from The Strokes, while heartfelt tracks like Us and Slide embody the James Bay that many fans fell in love with, as his novel voice pours onto the melody. Wasted On Each Other is a dynamic pop rock number and Stand Up contains auto tuned vocals that Bon Iver would be proud of. Overall, it’s an impressively diverse second effort from Bay, who has developed his sound and evolved.
