James Barrett, of Clarks Summit, premiered his new record on Spotify this week. The release comes on the back of announcements that he signed to Refresh Records and will have his record release show at the Scranton Cultural Center on Sept. 24.
Toni Pennello | Weekender
The album art for James Barrett’s newest record, “A Series Of…Mostly Nothing,” which was drawn by local artist Alyssa Napora.
Submitted
It’s been a wild year or so for Clarks Summit native James Barrett.
The 24-year-old musician and songwriter premiered his newest record, “A Series Of…Mostly Nothing,” on Spotify this week. The premiere came after two other announcements: he has signed to Refresh Records, a label based in North Carolina, and he will have his record release show at the Scranton Cultural Center on Sept. 24.
“A Series Of…Mostly Nothing” explores some heavy emotions Barrett experienced since his last release in October of 2019.
“When my last record came out, it came out at an awful time in my life,” Barrett said of the album, “The Price of Comfort.”
“From that point to like, March of 2020, was just terrible. And then the pandemic started, and so I kinda just started writing about what felt like the end of the world, and how I was feeling about the end of the world,” he said. “I just wrote a ton about that whole experience, combating the worst emotions I’ve ever felt in my life of loneliness, confusion and heartbreak, with potentially the world collapsing as well.”
As Barrett grappled with COVID-19 in an emotional sense, he was faced with a consequence of the pandemic many Americans are familiar with — he lost his job in June 2020.
“At first, I was just horrified. This job was the only security I had,” he explained. “Then I was able to file … I talked to my family. I was like, ‘I think I’ve got to truly take this time off and fully dive into what I want to do, or else this might be my last chance to do it.’”
Barrett got in touch with his recording engineer of choice, Jake Checkoway, who was living in Massachusetts at the time.
“My sister lives in Old Forge with her boyfriend, and behind her house was just this mini house on their property that they used to rent out to people,” Barrett said. “It’s literally just a tiny house with a little room, a fridge and a bathroom, with a toilet, a sink and a shower.”
Before he lost his job, Barrett hatched the idea that this little property could potentially house a recording studio.
Checkoway came to what has been dubbed “the mini house” twice throughout that summer to record with Barrett, who often joked that Checkoway should move in to the space.
“Eventually he texted me saying, ‘You know what? Maybe living in the mini house for a couple months doesn’t sound too bad,’” Barrett relayed. “So in November I drove, and I picked him up, and I brought him back to the mini house. And he’s been living there ever since, renting it out.”
Barrett’s demoed the songs, sent those demos to NEPA-to-Los-Angeles transplant Billy Gerrity, who recorded drum parts remotely and sent the recordings to Checkoway, and recorded the rest from there.
“Pretty much (Checkoway) was the only person I had contact with, and I would just go every single day and record. I did that from like, December and January into February, and that was the whole process of it,” Barrett explained. “It’s just wild, because I’ve spent my whole life just trying to have time to (play music), and working full time and never having enough money … it’s wild that it took me losing my job for me to have money and time to invest into it. It’s the silver lining out of all of that. Because I was terrified when I lost my job.”
Barrett’s release show for “A Series Of…Mostly Nothing” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24, in Shopland Hall at the Scranton Cultural Center. Barrett is particularly excited about the venue, which reached out to him in regard to booking.
“I really didn’t wanna have it at a bar. I wanted to have it somewhere unique,” he explained. “And I had totally forgotten all about this room,” he added, in regard to Shopland Hall, which is on the fourth floor of the Cultural Center.
When Barrett was in the 10th grade, he explained, he had placed fourth in a battle of the bands competition. The top four winners got to play in Shopland Hall.
“I was in the 10th grade, in this crazy room, and I was like, ‘holy s—t, this room is nuts,’” he said. “I remember playing in there and my parents being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish you could hear how you sounded in this room,’ because the reverb’s nuts in the room. So it will be nice to kind of come full circle.”
Barrett is hoping to start a trend at the Cultural Center, with more local musicians stopping there.
“That whole building is just insane. There’s so many crazy things in that building, and like weird history … it’s just magnificent I think,” he said. “Every single one of these bands should be making this stop on their tour. Scranton is on the rise again, in my opinion at least. I think it’s gotten so much better over the last couple of years, and I think the arts are really coming alive. I think the Cultural Center needs to take advantage of that. And that’s why I’m hoping that this show could be, hopefully, something in that direction. Where we can start using this space.”
Barrett’s live band consists of himself on guitar and vocals, Jesse Morvan on lead guitar, Chelsea Taylor on keys and synth, Vinny Amarando on guitar, Chris Kirby on bass, and his brother, Tyler Barrett, on drums.
“There’s six people in my band now, and it just keeps getting larger and larger. I’m hoping by 2025 there’s gonna be like 12,” he laughed.
The release show will feature Philadelphia act Harmony Woods, led by Sofia Verbilla, and Scranton’s A Fire With Friends.
“(Harmony Woods) played my release show back in 2017 at the AFA Gallery. I’m excited for (Sofia) to have seen the little room we played at the AFA Gallery and then come into this insane room … it’s only been four years,” Barrett beamed.
“I love A Fire with Friends, and I think they’re the best and worst band from Scranton because they’re the best band, but they’re the worst because they never play,” he laughed. “Hopefully this will make them wanna play more.”
Preorders are open for limited-run vinyl of “A Series of…Mostly Nothing” at refreshrecs.com. There will be 200 gold vinyls and 100 two-toned purple and yellow. The album art is by Alyssa Napora.
Tickets for the release show can be purchased at the Scranton Cultural Center box office or online through ticketmaster at https://bit.ly/3kgZKf5. The record officially hit streaming services on Aug. 25.
