Out Philly-based singer-songwriter Aiden James kicked off 2012 in spectacular fashion, with the release of his latest independent album, “Trouble With This,” in January and plans to celebrate with a special performance Feb. 25.
“Trouble,” which is James’ third independently released album, finds him incorporating synthesizer and electronics into the folk-and-rock-inspired songwriting he established on his previous two albums.
“I like music with movement and I started to experiment,” James said. “I produced and engineered my own record and I started experimenting with new sounds. I had a specific sonic idea of what I wanted these songs to sound like, and these synths and electronic elements really just made the songs soar and made them bigger and closer to what I hear in my mind when I’m performing. I hear all the lush accompaniments — it brings out what I had in my mind that would take these songs to the next level.”
James added he doesn’t think the new sounds are going to be much of a turn-off to fans who are accustomed to his more organic-sounding albums.
“I’ve gotten a huge response from it,” he said. “Everybody has really liked it and is super-excited. I feel like they have been waiting for something like this from me for a while.
“The goal is always to say something in a way that things haven’t been said before. The song ‘It’s Gonna Hurt More’ — I was always surprised that people really responded to that track. It’s very cutting. It’s probably one of the meanest, sweetest songs that I have ever written. So I feel I have definitely grown as a songwriter and it shows on this record.”
James, like many singer-songwriters, tours the country and the world performing in venues with just a guitar and no band to back him up. But that constraint doesn’t worry him when it comes to taking the more-complex songs from the new album on the road.
“Primarily, the songs will stand on their own,” he said. “I’ve toured with me and my guitar. Being an independent artist, that is the easiest way for me to get to as many places as I can. As far as having a band, that stuff can get super-expensive. So for big shows like the Philly album release, I will have a band and a string section with me. I also have some cool-effects pedals and processors so, when I do tour and I might not have a band, there will be some cool sounds coming out of my vocals and my guitar.”
James added he plans to embark on an international tour to promote his new album.
“I have tours booked all the way to California and back and I’m trying to work with another songwriter for some European dates,” he said. “I really want to go back to Germany and the Mediterranean. German is my second language, so I want to go over there and practice. Maybe play a little ‘99 Luftballoons’ because they love that.”
James’ success as a performer is a considerable feat considering he’s an independent artist. While he doesn’t rule out ever signing to a major label, he does recognize the pros and cons of doing so — as well as the ups and downs of remaining an independent artist.
“With record labels, there’s still a lot of red tape with all these legacies in the industry,” he said. “But they are sort of breaking down because of things like Twitter and YouTube and Facebook. I use all of those to reach out to my fans. That’s how I told them about how I’m making a new record and how they helped with donations. The biggest thing that’s stopping me is not having a magnifying glass over what I’m doing. I have this really great record and spend a lot of time online searching for press to reach out to, emails for booking agents at clubs I want to get into and magazine editors. It’s more the access to the industry and all that information that is getting in my way as far as getting my music out to another level of exposure. That’s the biggest thing holding me back right now — not having an agent or somebody to take a big magnifying glass and put it over my records so people can hear it and see it. I would entertain the option of being on a major label. What I’ve done now is established a brand and I’ve been touring for a while. I would be into a major label to magnify what I’ve done, but I’ve heard a lot of bad stories from my friends who have been signed to major labels where things end up not working out. I’ve heard that a lot of times, so I would go in skeptically. But if the deal is right and I had some good people from my team to call some of the shots, I think it would be ideal with a record label.”
Aiden James performs an album-release show for “Trouble With This” 9:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at MilkBoy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St. For more information or tickets, call 215-925-6455, or visit www.aidenjamesmusic.com or www.milkboyphilly.com.