WORDS / KODY FORD
PHOTO / ANNA HUTCHISON

Once upon a time, Shawn James and I shared a wall.  When he moved down from Chicago in early 2012, he moved into the duplex where I lived.  His practice space and my bedroom were separated by less than a foot of wood and insulation. At the time, I worked nights and, often in the afternoons, Shawn would awaken me while practicing. I like to rag him about this occasionally, but the truth is, he was so damn good that I never got upset about it. And from time to time, he even sang me back to sleep.

Anyone dabbling in artistic endeavors can strike gold once, but the mark of a true artist is the ability to evolve. What has always been remarkable about Shawn is his ability to be diverse in his sound while staying true to his style. When he released Shadows in late 2012, he was just a one-man band who made his living playing covers like “Heard It Through the Grapevine” while slipping in originals now and again. Still, he managed to pull off an entire album without sounding stale.

In 2013, he set upon his most ambitious endeavor — The Shapeshifter trilogy featuring The Wolf, The Bear, and The Hawk. The Wolf sounded much like his first album, melodic and mid-tempo, but with The Bear, Shawn, now backed by his very talented band The Shapeshifters, came out swinging. It was a raucous collection of songs backed by foot-stomping beats and a bluesy slide, punctuated by banjo and electric guitar.  He had evolved and the crowds loved it.

In January 2014, Shawn completed the Shapeshifter Trilogy by releasing The Hawk. The EP is very much based around the piano. He manages to stay true to his style while once again expanding his sound.  Book-ended by the instrumentals “Winds of Change” and “Liberation,” Shawn and his band craft intricate tunes that manages to sorrowful, mysterious and even suspenseful without being monotonous.

coverI recently talked with Shawn about “The Hawk” and where he plans to go from here.

KF:  Tell me about the writing/recording process for this album.

Like The Bear, I had an idea of what I wanted to do but nothing written. I spent about 4 days alone thinking and writing the music and story for The Hawk. After the 4 days I had all lyrics and piano parts done. I find that when I have time to focus and concentrate in solitude, the writing process is simple. A couple weeks later, my band had written all their parts.

What makes this EP unique compared to the previous ones?

I’ve never played piano as a main instrument for my music. It definitely affects everything differently. The way the music flows and the kind of emotional intensity that this EP has in particular are very different from the other EP’s and I love that…not being a one-trick pony or just limiting ourselves to one genre really excites me and keeps things interesting.

How long have you played piano?

I’ve been playing for only a few years now. I’ve never been formerly taught on the piano and half the time I have no idea what I’m playing. I just play what feels right, what sounds right to me and what fits the mood of the music I’m writing. For me, it keeps it authentic to not think too much on the technical side of things but to just explore, make mistakes and see what works best in the end.

Have you performed these songs on the road?  If so, how has the reception been?

We have not performed these songs yet. I wanted to have the EP released first. We’ll start performing The Hawk live on our next tour starting January 31st.

Now that you’ve completed the Shapeshifter Trilogy, what’s next?

I’m excited to take a break from writing full concept EP’s and focus more on writing music on a song by song basis like “Shadows.”

When you think about it, most of our songs are stories and all of the concept EP’s we’ve done have just been longer drawn out stories across a handful of songs. I have a bunch of songs I’ve written that didn’t fit in the Shapeshifter Trilogy concept that I’ve just had sitting in my head and I’m very excited to get them out.

I want to release another solo album this year, a live album with the band, an album of covers we do live, and possibly a full-length record with The Shapeshifters. It just depends on if we have the time with our touring schedule to get it all knocked out.

What are some of the things you’ve been up to over the last few months?

In the last few months, we wrote and recorded the Hawk, played a lot of great shows, had an awesome New Years, and went on tour to Colorado and back. We can’t wait to see what else 2014 has in store for us.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A HUGE thank you to everyone who’s been supporting us all along. We couldn’t do any of this without everyone out there. Also, more states need to follow Colorado’s lead if ya know what I’m sayin’.

Download The Hawk here.

 

 

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