PureVolume

HEAVY HEARTS
is the newly released debut album from singer/songwriter and poet, James Benton. It was recorded in March of this year at The French House Studio in Pouzolles, France. The songs were written over a period of 15 years, however most of the tracks are more recent compositions. The chief engineer for the project was Paul Lilly, who has worked with such giants as Elvis Costello, Squeeze, and holds the claim of being U2s first live sound engineer.
The general feel of the album moves towards a sort of melancholic reflection infused with transcendent melodies accompanied by masterful percussions executed by Mark Griffin. The lyrics often reveal Benton's close relationship to poetry which have less to do with pleasing the critics but more with, in his words, "The silent, slow swelling of the word remembering the song. I intend to move myself in ways that I've never been moved before through my writing," Benton says, "and I hope that these sometimes strange movements will be experienced by myself and others in a way that has left us with at least a little more wisdom or understanding."
The album promises some outstanding performances from a whole crew of gifted musicians that includes: Regis Abbal on bass, mandolin, dobro and a spot on, gut grabbing guitar performance on The Crime, Bernard Ariu, an accordionist of great sensitivity who arrived at the studio and proceeded to blow the minds of all present. Maiuko, an extremely talented singer who provided the backing vocals on Broken Dreams, and keyboardist Max Middleton, who has worked with such legends as Jeff Beck, Kate Bush and Beck.
James, a native of the state of Kentucky, began performing publicly in 1997 on the Island of Crete after being encouraged to do so by a close friend. After several overwhelmingly successful performances he suddenly decided to leave Crete and moved to the mountains in the South of France where he currently resides. In recent years he has laid rather low on the music scene but now has plans to tour France and the UK sometime later this year.