‘James Marples musically sounds like Mark Lanegan at his mournful best’

vulturehound

‘pristine and cinematic’

redefine mag

James Marples is a songwriter and composer whose songs explore love and psychodrama. His music and deep baritone voice has drawn comparisons with Howe Gelb, Bill Callahan and Richard Hawley.

Whilst in London, he joined the Blind Dog Studios collective, performing alongside gothic chanteuse Anna Calvi and her percussionist Mally Harpaz, further honing his orchestral Americana sound.

He was the songwriter-in-residence at Kings College, London and released his EP ‘Go Quietly’, receiving extensive BBC radio play in 2018-19.

 Upon returning from London to Australia, his latest EP ‘On Polaroid’ was funded by the City of Melbourne.

As a composer, James Marples has created a number of scores for theatre and contemporary dance. His music for Secondhand Dance featured electronic instruments and field recordings and was performed in London at Sadlers Wells, the Southbank Centre and toured internationally. In 2017, he wrote and performed a score for Sam Shepard’s play ‘Lie of the Mind’ at the Southwark Playhouse, which received a 5 star review in the Times. 

In 2018, James Marples was the songwriter-in-residence at the Centre for Australian Studies at Kings College London, and received Arts Council England funding for his project ‘Colonial Sun’, which used film stimulus in order to create a suite of songs about Australian national identity.

His 2019 EP, ‘Go Quietly’, received BBC radio play and was released digitally and on a limited edition 35mm projector slide and was accompanied by a film which portrayed the landscapes of the Thames River.