James Walsh - ‘Everything Will Be OK’

After listening to all 11 songs on the LP, Everything Will Be OK, I can confirm: everything will be ok. In short, if the first 10 seconds of the first song works for you, then the whole album will. James Walsh is the the lead singer of Starsailor (a band with a half a million monthly listeners on Spotify at the moment). Full disclosure: I’m unfamiliar with them, so this review exists without context of previous works.

For this album, the vocals are clearly the anchor, and they serve that purpose well, maintaining a position of centrality while the gentle tide of instrumentation ebbs and flows around them. I wished it was cold outside and I was sipping a warm beverage by the fire while these songs gently moved the air as my speakers lightly vibrated with the frailty of James’ delicate, soothing voice. Often ethereal and always emotive, his confidence as a singer and deftness as a songwriter is ever-apparent. I did find it interesting that only three of the eleven songs surpassed the three minute-mark, and just barely at that. These songs are short, but they are moving and well-crafted, so if you find yourself listening by the fireside in a pensive mood, everything will be ok.

-Mark Grider