The last time we featured LA singer-songwriter James Houlahan was in 2018, for a single from his fourth album The Wheel Still in Spin. A lot has happened in those intervening years which have strongly shaped his new album, Ordinary Eye.
He again turns to producer Fernando Perdomo (Linda Perhacs, Jakob Dylan) and calls once more upon drummer Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, Fiona Apple). He’s also joined by vocalist Esther Clark and, being something of a Dylan fan, he pulls off something of a coup as violinist Scarlet Rivera joins the ranks – Dylan fans will know who that name very well – she played the unforgettable fiddle parts on Bob Dylan’s 1976 album Desire, most memorably on “Hurricane” and also featured on Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.
Experiencing a deeply divided America, Houlahan felt compelled to document this unprecedented era in the history of the country and the planet. “It’s such a crazy time,” Houlahan says. “The world is on fire. I wanted to write music that bore witness to what was happening—not only in the world around me but in my head, too. It’s an album about looking around, seeing what’s happening, witnessing the present.”
Watch his new video for the Neil Young-inspired “As It Is” with stacked harmonies, brushed percussion and other cinematic flourishes. It perfectly represents the album themes and aesthetic, and the video (footage from the extensive Prelinger Archives) is set to gorgeous time-lapse visuals of tiny seeds transforming into plants that ultimately flower, as Houlahan offers up a hushed plea for clarity and acceptance…”a simple dream of love for everything”.
Bandcamp: https://jameshoulahan.bandcamp.com/album/ordinary-eye
Photo Credit: Ronan Chris Murphy