This piece of high-energy, Celtic-infused, acoustic punk will make you positively like the coolest pirate of the Caribbean around. Not that piracy is cool, but a bit of imagination never hurts anybody, and James Spencer is here to feed this imagination with his latest release titled ‘Your Ship’s Coming In’.
Based in the United Kingdom, namely the town of Barnstaple, James Spencer is a singer and a songwriter who has been busy making a name for himself throughout 2023. With a sound steeped in folk tradition, James Spencer’s music is guaranteed to take you to a different place. From his previous, self-proclaimed gypsy-themed ‘Black Dog’ to today’s ‘Your Ship’s Coming In’, it is not difficult to piece things together and name Spencer as a capable craftsman, not only of songs, but also of atmospheres.
The hyped-up atmospheres of ‘Your Ship’s Coming In’ comes as a direct result of an ultra-in-your-face drum part that is delivered with intention and power, dry sounding, and solidly groovy, a strong backbone to the strings-heavy forefront of the arrangement, which in turn features wailing, dancing violin lines that revolve around a consistent banjo part. In the center stage, we have Spencer’s empowering vocal part, sung with purpose, and layered to perfection.
An amazing bit of production that efficiently uses a lack of reverb that would make most producers uncomfortable to its absolute best effect. If ‘Your Ship’s Coming In’ -with its scene-setting instrumentation, infectious energy, and witty lyrics- doesn’t take you to a tavern by a port in the 17th-century British countryside, then we don’t know what will.