Though Haunted Continents is the solo project of James A.M. Downes, you’d be hard pressed to realise it when listening to the Brooklynite’s sound. Far from the stripped back singer-songwriter staple, Downes crafts a vivid and fleshed out style, as set out in his previous release, Prison Font. The EP, released in 2017, drew influence from pop and rock, as well as a country twang that combined to form a notable sense of sincerity and feeling.
Starting this month, Downes plans to release a new Haunted Continents single every month for an entire year. Looking to establish a thematic and narrative depth, the tracks serve a higher purpose than merely earnest emotion. “These new songs give breath to narratives that teem with dark humor and humility,” says the bio, hinting at the ambition of the project, “taking the listener from debaucherous parties in the underworld all the way to the ghostly desolate bedrooms of former lovers, long since vanished.”
The first of these singles, ‘What You Were Born For?’, which serves as a case in point, taking the emotional intensity of folk songwriters like Noah Gundersen and setting it to an indie rock tempo. The result is a sound as stirring as it is heartfelt, and able to craft a good variety and range of feeling without sacrificing lyrical depth.
The track comes complete with a B-side, ‘Modern Love’. More restrained and patient, the song draws upon something of an emo style, exuding a tenderness familiar to the early 00s heartbreakers such as Death Cab For Cutie.
Haunted Continents can be found on iTunes and Spotify, so be sure to follow them over the coming months, and you can find the past releases on the James A.M. Downes Bandcamp page.