James Robinson - Start a fire

James Robinson found fame with his Brighton based alt-pop band Two Spot Gobi, but left to try a new musical direction. He released the "Ropes" EP in 2012, and is now back with another EP, Start a fire. My first thought on hearing this was surprise that it's taken him two years to do a four song EP while most bands are able to come out with full albums at that rate. Still, some bands or singer songwriters prefer to take their time when writing and recording.

So, what can you expect from the EP? Well it's primarily a fairly typical singer-songwriter style - the focus is mainly him singing and playing acoustic guitar. The vocals are unusual as his Devon accent is very noticeable - it's amazing how few singers seem to have an accent when singing. The problem with the singer-songwriter style is that it does tend to sound very generic once you've listened to a few artists doing that, so it takes a real effort in the songwriting to come up with something that has interest. Thankfully James Robinson has written some very good songs here that do manage to keep your interest as you listen to the lyrics.

Check out the title track using the player below and hear for yourself how the title track sounds.

"Start a fire" is out now.

Track listing:

1. Start a fire
2. Demons
3. Holes in the sky
4. Smoke & Ashes