From James’ 16th studio album ‘All Of The Colours Of You’, the band have released ‘Beautiful Beaches’. The song was written by lead singer Tim Booth as a commentary on climate change migration and as someone who resided in Topanga Canyon, California for several years, the song was also written about the consequential Californian fires that are becoming increasingly more frequent as a result of the environmental change.
Due to the ever more regular fires and earthquakes that were destroying the lives of many Californians, Tim and his family decided to move from the area. Though some in the area unfortunately had to leave without choice. The song is particularly inspired by a friend of Booth’s whose home was supposedly meant to be ‘fireproof’ which meant he had to leave life in Topanga Canyon down to the beaches to get away from the dreadful fire. This inspired the poetic lyric ‘That life we left behind/We’re racing down to those beautiful beaches.’ Despite the poetic lyrics interlaced within the song, the impact of the Californian fires is portrayed in lines such as ‘Put your foot down to the floor’ and ‘Burning down the houses, we’re surrounded’ which makes the message of the song so effective and powerful.
‘Beautiful Beaches’ is an upbeat and hopeful-sounding song and its understandable that many of it’s listeners would interpret it as an inspirational song in anticipation of the end of the pandemic and Booth sees this potential interpretation himself as he says “We love how this song is so uplifting, focusing on new beginnings. I like the idea that many might not know the backstory and hear it as a post-Covid holiday song, praying that the lyrics don’t turn out to be prophetic.”
In whichever way people interpret their latest single, it is sure to be enjoyed by many. With the band already having sold over 25 million copies of their albums over the years, ‘Beautiful Beaches’ is another example of the work James’ fans have loved over the last few decades, whilst still managing to keep a fresh and modern sound, along with a message being addressed that is important to current issues. It shows us that their album ‘All The Colours Of You’ is an exciting new chapter to the stories James have to tell and it is somewhere new and exciting they have to explore with us all.
‘All The Colours Of You’ is out 4th June 2021
Track listing:
ZERO
All the Colours of You
Recover
Beautiful Beaches
Wherever It Takes Us
Hush
Miss America
Getting Myself Into
Magic Bus
Isabella
XYST
UK TOUR with Special Guests HAPPY MONDAYS:
NOVEMBER
Thu 25 LEEDS First Direct Arena
Fri 26 BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena
Sun 28 CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
Tue 30 GLASGOW SSE Hydro
DECEMBER
Wed 01 DUBLIN 3 Arena
Fri 03 MANCHESTER Arena (Sold Out)
Sat 04 LONDON Wembley Arena
Tickets: https://wearejames.com/live/
UK FESTIVALS:
JULY
Fri 30 GLASGOW Playground Weekender
Sat 31 THIRSK Deer Shed Festival
SEPTEMBER
Sat 04 WARRINGTON Neighbourhood Weekender
Thu 09 SCARBOROUGH Open Theatre
Fri 17 ISLE OF WIGHT Isle of Wight Festival