Across the singles leading into ‘I Call It Magic When I’m With You’, James Keith has rarely hidden his optimism. His new album makes that outlook the main event, stretching one relationship across fourteen tracks of country-rock, bright hooks and the occasional moment of doubt.
There is a distinctly Australian story behind Keith’s path into music. Also known as James Mortimer, he comes from one of rugby league’s best-known families and played the game himself before a fractured larynx led to three vocal surgeries. He later taught himself to sing, carrying that resilience into a country-rock career that has kept strong ties to the sport. That journey gives some added weight to the optimism that now runs through his songwriting.
James Keith has been steadily revealing the record throughout the year, and hearing those songs together gives them a clearer shape. Rather than treating love as one great rush, Keith follows it through different stages, from early attraction and distance to uncertainty, commitment and the simple pleasure of building a life alongside someone.
Musically, he keeps things big. Twangy guitars sit alongside rock riffs and wide-open choruses, while Keith’s husky vocal gives the brighter production some grit. Opener ‘Life Is (Still) Good Today’ sets the tone with bouncing guitars and an uncomplicated sense of optimism, before ‘Alive’ pushes into larger, more layered territory.
Focus track ‘Don’t Wanna Stop’ finds its subject in the small things, celebrating the everyday habits and moments that make a relationship worth holding onto. ‘Man I Wanna Be’ turns that feeling inward over driving guitars, while ‘Sixteen Thousand’, a duet with Keith’s girlfriend, brings the album closest to his own life. Acoustic country textures meet Afrobeat-inspired rhythms as their voices share one of the record’s more personal moments.
Keith is not particularly interested in playing it cool here, and the album is better for it.
“It’s about love, distance, doubt, people telling you something won’t work, optimism, positivity, good times and finding someone who changes your life. There are songs about meeting her, songs about missing her, songs about fighting for it and songs that simply celebrate how bloody good it feels when you find someone you genuinely love.”
Having spent time with Keith’s recent singles, ‘I Call It Magic When I’m With You’ feels like the fuller picture they were pointing towards. There are moments of uncertainty along the way, but this is ultimately a record that believes wholeheartedly in its own love story.
That sincerity is where James Keith is strongest. ‘I Call It Magic When I’m With You’ is big-hearted country-rock with little interest in cynicism, and sometimes fourteen songs about being hopelessly in love are exactly what the moment calls for.
https://www.jameskeith.au/
