James Deem "jamesdeem.com"

James Deem, true disciple of Jamie Hoover (Spongetones) and Ed James has released his debut album “jamesdeem.com” recently. The album starts out promising enough with the jangly “The Way She Loves Me.” This is a great tune and it’s followed by the excellent Spongetones-like “I could fall in Love” complete with an “Octopus Garden” styled guitar intro. “I’m not over you” is another song about love lost and my favorite on the album. It’s his enthusiastic performance that wins me over on “I hear your heart calling” – a Rubinoos styled pop song. James has a bit of experience playing Billy Joel covers, and it shows in “The Dream” – a piano ballad with a passing nod to Ben Folds or Fountains of Wayne. Deems’ guitar work is also not really a Merseybeat jangle style, but a bit of modern country as shown “On the Way to Paradise.” Fans of Walter Clevenger and Bill Lloyd will appreciate this approach. The second half of the album contains alot of slower ballads, also well done. I must say he also knows how to promote himself well. You can listen to the entire album from his site.

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