We’ve long followed the work of Mirfield’s James Smith, who records under the moniker of Good Good Blood. From the Hymnal EP and O Belong to Heart Land, Smith has woven a sound at once compassionate and vulnerable. Most recently we wrote about At Your Mercy, a record which utilised collaboration and organic intuition to craft a sound of life being lived. “With this present tense, the album exists in a kind of suspended state where what is lost is missed dearly,” we wrote, “and what is to come carries no small amount of terror.” However, no matter how dark or conflicted, Smith’s songs always possess a flicker in the distance. As we continued:
But in the gap between nostalgic mourning and the trepidation of forward motion lies an ever-present light, a small kernel of hope that refuses to disappear. It might seem strange for a record so anchored to the present to owe so much to both the past and the future, but then perhaps that’s all the present is—a collection of hopes and regrets, marbled into one experience.
Next year sees Good Good Blood return with The Dizzying Parade, a brand new record on Team Love Records. Lead single ‘Green Bank’ gives an indication of what to expect. A densely layered track which balances a propelling drum beat with an dreamy weightlessness, Smith’s vocals finding that neo-psychedelic line between attitude and ethereality.
Dear friends are all we need
It always matters
Juniper, will you plant the seed?
Or leave in tatters?