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Album reviews Music

James Vincent McMorrow

Repetition is essential to pop music. Catchy vocal hooks and irresistible samples are the genre’s currency: in some ways, you’re only as good as how memorable your chorus is. James Vincent McMorrow understands that. The smooth-voiced Irish singer’s R&B falls decidedly into the pop category, and his third album is plenty repetitive. 

It’s also frustratingly flat McMorrow often repeats the same lines at the same energy level ad nauseam. The Weeknd has taken pop’s tried-and-true mechanics and created world-conquering smashes, while up-and-comer Daniel Caesar – who repurposed McMorrow’s Cavalier as Chevalier with jaw-dropping results – floors with an incomparable voice. We Move, though, isn’t endowed with either ear-catching hooks or memorable moments. 

The good news is that its production – featuring locals Frank Dukes and Nineteen85 – is blissful and gives it cohesion. It’s full of dreamy, hypnotic atmospheres, like the wavy glow of Killer Whales and woozy, dense baby-maker I Lie Awake Every Night. When he breaks slightly from his formula, he produces the record’s best tracks. The dramatic, immediate Evil deftly shifts from pulsing verses to explosive, powerful choruses, throwing in a handclap section out of left field. Highlight Surreal features McMorrow’s best vocal performance, including a passionate break.

In a genre based on repetition, standout moments are critical, and We Move provides too few of them to be impactful. But when they show up, the results are stunning, especially the pace change of sparse and gorgeous piano-led ender Lost Angels.

Top track: Surreal

James Vincent McMorrow plays the Phoenix on November 14. 

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