James Bay has just announced plans for a large UK and Ireland tour this November and December. The tour is in support of his new album, The Leap, which is to be released on July 8th via EMI Records/Republic Records. Bay recently dropped the latest single from the album, “One Life”. In an interview with OfficalCharts, James says, “One Life is a complete celebration of my journey so far with Lucy (wife) and how important that part of my life is”.
James continues, “Making this album for the first time – because I’ve made it a few times – I found myself writing from a new perspective. I looked up from my sadness and recognised [my partner] Lucy and friends in my life, who I can be vulnerable with. They carry me when I’m struggling. For the first time ever, I wrote from that vulnerability and that emotion. It’s saying ‘thank you, because when I’m lost you help me find my way.’ These are very difficult places to write from, when you’re trying to be seen to be so strong. All of that informed the writing of the album. It went from what I can only describe as ‘typical me,’ song writing-wise, to working out where and how I was breaking a boundary emotionally. That’s something I want to do.”
The entire album showcases Bay going back to his Nashville roots. In an interview with NME, Bay disclosed that his new album would be stripped-back with guitar sounds taking the lead, similar to his debut album “The Chaos and The Calm”, adding, “It’s a cohesive album, born out of the least cohesive time”. Bay also explained the inspiration for the title – which stemmed from him picking up Julia Cameron’s 1992 manual named “The Artist’s Way” during the lockdown, and coming across the words of John Burroughs (who was an American naturalist and nature essayist), that read, “Leap, and the net will appear” .
For the upcoming album, Bay collaborated with multiple producers and songwriters, during the national lockdown. This includes the likes of, Ian Fitchuk, Dave Cobb, Foy Vance and Joel Little. He told NME, “I got home [from Nashville] on March 21, 2020, and two days later everything shut down,” he explained. “So I stayed home and we mixed and mastered the 12 songs that I had, thinking we were going to put them out. I found out over an excruciatingly long period of months that that was absolutely not going to happen.”
The album can be pre-ordered here. Check out the album’s tracklist below.
1. ‘Give Me The Reason’
2. ‘Nowhere Left To Go’
3. ‘Save Your Love’
4. ‘Everyone Needs Someone’
5. ‘One Life’
6. ‘Silent Love’
7. ‘Love Don’t Hate Me’
8. ‘Brilliant Still’
9. ‘Right Now’
10. ‘We Used To Shine’
11. ‘Endless Summer Nights’
12. ‘Better’
The Hitchin singer and songwriter will commence the autumn tour at Bournemouth O2 Academy on November 20th. Bay will then touchdown at Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin, Birmingham and London, before wrapping up the tour at Bristol’s O2 Academy on December 3rd.
UK tour dates:
20/11/2022 – O2 Academy Bournemouth – BOURNEMOUTH
21/11/2022 – Leeds O2 Academy – LEEDS
23/11/2022 – UPON TYNE NX – NEWCASTLE
24/11/2022 – Academy – MANCHESTER
25/11/2022 – Usher Hall – EDINBURGH
27/11/2022 – Rock City – NOTTINGHAM
01/12/2022 – O2 Institute – BIRMINGHAM
02/12/2022 – LONDON O2 Brixton Academy – LONDON
03/12/2022 – O2 Academy Bristol – BRISTOL
