AS spiders have webs, so does British music have troubadours. The difficulty involved in standing out from the crowd may explain why James Bay wears a hat, and a very fetching hat it is as well.
Unfortunately, natty headgear is about the only thing that differentiates him from acoustic pop-rock pack. Chaos And The Calm carries a slightly presumptuous title, suggesting an edginess not evident in his songwriting; the themes are grounded in discovery and trepidation, but not madness. It’s a sedate, serviceable, tepid blues-rock affair, with only Scars and Hold Back The River demonstrating that Bay’s music may develop the same grit as his James Morrison-after-a-night-on-the-Gauloises voice.
The winner of a Brits Critics’ Choice Award despite lukewarm reviews, Chaos And The Calm is effective and anodyne, interchangeable with all the other Damien Rice-a-likes opening their hearts into a mic.
Mark Stead
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