INTERVIEW: Cecilia James releases debut EP 'Different Ground': "It's about growing up, learning and change."

Interview: Jett Tattersall

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cecilia James hails from Santa Barbara, California and recently released her debut EP Different Ground. Collecting four of her previous singles alongside three new tracks, the EP is a dreamy collection of guitar based indie-pop, with tinges of country and soul, full of captivating melodies with James’ remarkable vocals forming such a bond you feel she is serenading you personally.

Releasing her first single in 2017, James started work on the EP in 2018, completing it last year. Full of deeply personal tracks, the EP reflects the personal growth James has gone through, from adolescence to adulthood a journey she has been on at the same time as she has been finding her feet as a musical artist.

With her innate talent to create earthy, deeply connective music, Cecilia James is shaping up to be a singer-songwriter that promises to deliver some really special things in the next few years. We recently caught up with her to find out more.

Cecilia, it is such a delight to talk to you. Different Ground has been released into speakers and headphones across the globe. How has this whole ride been for you?
The biggest thing I want to emphasise with this is it's just been such a huge learning experience. I have never put out music like this before, what I'd released in the past was one or two singles back in like 2018 and 2017. I didn't really do much with them, I just kind of put them out and was like, ‘Hey, listen to this!’ But this time around I’m really working hard to get it out there, trying to get it to the right listeners. Crafting a universe around these songs has been really fun.

The opening track 'Sonic Baby’ for me, it's an opener but it plays out like the end credits to a film, one of those ones you just sit in the cinema and stare as the credits roll. It's so beautiful. Can you talk me through the creation of that track and where it came from?
I wrote that song when I was probably 16. I can't really explain a lot about it because it kind of wrote itself. A lot of the best songs, you sit down and they just come out, and then you have the whole song, it's awesome. The starting point was based on a day I had with my best friend and we just went to beautiful spots around the town that we live in, and it was one of those special days that made me reflect on myself and how beautiful things in life can be. It took on more of a conversation between myself and my past self, or, myself and my future self. The best way to describe it is a conversation between different versions of the self.

Oh, that's gorgeous. And you wrote that at 16, I don't even want to imagine the kind of songs I would put out when I was 16. Obviously, you've always been creating, can you talk to me a little bit about your musical trajectory and how it influenced you as a child, and when you started really creating your own?
Yeah, I’ve had a very, very, interesting life. My dad is a musician as well. I started out with child acting when I was literally an infant, I just grew up being a performer, in the spotlight, on the stage. And then I switched to dance, and then it switched to music, and I decided acting wasn't for me. I really got into playing guitar, I started playing and singing live when I was 10 years old. I was busking at little farmers markets, playing little tiny shows and I just kind of grew from there. I really got deeper into writing my own songs around 11 or 12 and I've just kind of grown with it. Throughout my area I’ve been doing a lot of shows and that's been awesome. I really liked performing and reaching people that way, but now I'm like, ‘oh, man, I really, really want to do this with my life.’ So I'm using that new mindset.

You are quite the multitasker when it comes to your music and you pair it with some absolutely delicious visuals. Has music always been a visual experience for you? Because your videos are kind of off the charts.
Definitely. I grew up doing art amidst all of the rest, so that's just always been in my brain. A lot of my songs are based on visuals that I have, I see a lot of visuals of my songs and a lot of colours. I put out different moods for each single. 'My Name Is To Call' was based off of a dream that I had that was in black and white and I don't usually dream in black and white, but this was just something I guess my brain decided to come up with. So that was a very like strong part of the song for me, this dark black and white mysterious feeling. That translated to how I came up with the visuals for the music video, which was filmed in black and white super eight by myself and my partner. With the newer stuff it’s even shifted more because now I can see the song as I write it as a music video, which has been really cool.

This is your debut EP, your first release as a collection. How did you go about collating the EP and what was your intention behind it?
I've been thinking a lot about this and the ultimate thing that it comes down to is I wrote these songs from the ages of 15 to 20, and they really were strong points in my life, I had a lot of feelings attached to [the songs]. The ultimate thing that these songs together represent is navigating through growing up, navigating through, first love, first big life experiences. All of these songs have attachments to all of my first big feelings as an adolescent and a young woman. If I were to just put it all into a few words, it's about growing up, learning and change.

The music industry, in all genres is a rewarding and savage beast. As you are a young female soloist have you ever felt that you needed to be louder, better, more creative because you're going at it alone?
Any young female solo artist would agree that it's not ever going to be easy. When I was younger, I thought, ‘oh, someone's gonna discover my music, and it's just gonna go from there’. But now I'm like, ‘no, I really need to work super hard to achieve what I want’. That's been a big epiphany that I had within the last year, which drove me to get this this EP out finally, I'd sat on it for a couple years before getting the courage to do it. I'm so inspired by my peers, the bigger solo female artists, and that does drive me to want to keep working at it. And just keep improving. It's kind of scary, but I'm willing to put in the work and develop myself.

There has been some setbacks being a young young artist, I've always been in my brain was that in my teens, people were only really drawn to my music because I'm young. Now that I've gotten to early adulthood, I really have to prove myself - it's not just the cutesy little girl playing guitar that makes people stop. It's got to be the lyrics and the music. That's something that this pandemic has given me time to really process as well. I'm growing and I'm learning.

What does the future look like for you, what's coming up for Cecilia James?
As I said, these songs have been pretty much finished since 2019, which is been two years now, so I have tonnes of new songs, lots of new music, I am super eager to just start the next project. Maybe work towards a full length album. Investing my energy into the next project is already something that I'm focused on. I'd love to tour again, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I want to be as safe as possible. Just going forward and evolving the sound that I have in my brain and working with new people, getting new experiences. That's my game plan for the next year.

Different Ground is out now via Cowgirl Boot Girl Records. You can download and stream here.

To keep up with all things Cecilia James you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.