The Ambience Affair Irish songwriter’s first single from the follow-up to Hard Work is out today on We Go To 11, with the album due in Spring 2027.
James J. Clarke has been making music in one guise or another since 2008, and he has shared stages with Field Music, The Twilight Sad and Lisa Hannigan, and previously as The Ambience Affair and DIVAN. His songs have also been used on CSI: New York and CSI: Miami. Today he releases ‘Half of the Time’, the first single from his second solo album, the follow-up to 2024’s Hard Work. It’s out on We Go To 11, the artist-led sub-label of Trapped Animal Records.
It’s the album’s opening track, and the first voice you hear on it is Aoife DeMille’s rather than Clarke’s. That was deliberate. He wanted the record to feel as if two people were telling the story, and to leave room for the other person’s side of a relationship breaking down. The song itself is about living in partial clarity, with Clarke describing it as “no longer feeling that you belong in the life you’ve built”. The album that follows moves from loss and longing towards some kind of acceptance.
Half of the Time is about living in a state of partial clarity: seeing enough to know that something in your life has changed, but not enough to fully act on it. It sits in the space between awareness and action, when you no longer quite belong in the life you’ve built but don’t yet feel equipped for what comes next.
Aoife DeMille sings the opening verse and chorus before James J. Clarke enters with the second verse, allowing the song to hold two perspectives on the same moment. Originally written for one voice, giving part of the song to Aoife became a way of relinquishing some ownership of the story and making it feel more compassionate and truthful to the relationship it came from.
The album
Clarke cites Elliott Smith and Bonnie “Prince” Billy as influences. The arrangements are understated, with space in the production. Krists Liepa plays trombone on ‘The One I Loved’ and ‘Within Your Air’.
Most of the album was recorded at Aoilfinn, Chris Barry’s studio in Drumcondra. Barry also recorded Junior Brother’s debut album, Pull the Right Rope. Two songs were recorded live in a church in Waterville, Co. Kerry. Ian Maleney produced the record. The album title and release date haven’t been announced yet.
♡ Nialler9 is independent and reader-supported. Support us on Patreon →
Socials
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
