James Vincent McMorrow releases new album ’Wide Open, Horses’ via Nettwerk Music Group

James Vincent McMorrow | Credit: Rich Gilligan

Today, Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow releases his seventh studio album, Wide open, horses, via Nettwerk Music Group. The album release follows the singles ‘Never gone,’ ‘Give up,’ ‘Call me back,’ and ‘Things we tell ourselves,’ and the announcement of an extensive tour across the UK, EU, and North America. The album marks his first release for Nettwerk Music Group and lands just one day ahead of his Barbican headline date in London.

Wide Open, Horses is a candid snapshot of everything that has brought McMorrow to this point. The album signifies a retaking of his own narrative, a freeing self-acceptance, and a rebuilding of both his sense of self and his connection to music.

Speaking on the album, McMorrow says, "To me, the album is about finding relief from the cycle of life’s pressure. I don’t think the theory ‘modernity equals better’ holds much water these days. The more technology we add, the more unhappy everyone seems to be. I don’t want to move backwards, but I felt a sense of nostalgia and happiness in the album. It would be grandiose of me to think I could offer you some profound release through words and lyrics, but maybe I can…The job is to make a record I love and hopefully offer a respite. Maybe we can all get back to a life where we aren’t so obsessed with trying to seek out meaning from absolutely everything.”

James Vincent McMorrow has beckoned listeners to open their minds and hearts since his emergence in 2010. Along the way, he gathered over 1 billion streams across an expansive catalog. Among many standouts, ‘Higher Love’ went BPI Gold in the UK and ARIA platinum in Australia. His cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ soundtracked the trailer for Season Six of HBO’s Game of Thrones and generated over 130 million Spotify streams on its Live At Killkenny Arts Festival version. Toppling charts, 2016’s We Move notably debuted at #1 in Ireland. At the same time, he lent his voice to “Hype” from Drake’s multiplatinum blockbuster Views, “I’m In Love” from Kygo’s Cloud Nine, and “Run Away” from dvsn’s Morning After, among others. 2022’s surprise album The Less I Knew arrived to critical acclaim as Variance attested, “It makes for the perfect listen in the midst of these complicated times, brimming with emotion and candidly confronting struggle while also looking to a brighter day.” Meanwhile, he’s sold-out tours on multiple continents, even packing the world-famous Sydney Opera House twice.

In 2023, he brought Wide open, horses to life—on stage. He booked two nights at The National Concert Hall in Dublin, recorded a handful of lo-fi demos, practiced the material for a week, and then hit the stage. Phones weren’t allowed, but McMorrow recorded it to “see what worked and what didn’t work.”

“I literally performed the album before it was recorded,” he smiles. “The whole point was to expose the flaws and also highlight the special little moments. It was an odd experiment, but it worked great. The notion is so simple, ‘Write songs and perform them live’. Without cameras, they were the best shows I’ve ever played—which is interesting because no one knew the music! Everyone was just experiencing it though. I had friends in the lobby talking to strangers. Who talks to strangers anymore? It was lovely. It was a heartening experience for everyone involved.” Galvanized by this energy, he hit the studio and assembled Wide open, horses.

In Wide open, horses, McMorrow rewards audiences with remarkable openness and vulnerability. From the uncertain first performances of these songs to an unsuspecting audience, inviting his young daughter Margot to record the heart-wrenching yet playful duet on ‘give Up,’ to even recording ‘stay Cool’ in a single take, McMorrow lays himself bare. By reclaiming his identity, he has crafted an album that is beautifully transparent and honest.

To mark the release of the album, McMorrow has shared an stunning and bold new video for his latest single ‘Things we tell ourselves’. The video centres around a couple injuring each other and themselves with increasing levels violence amidst moments of love and fear. Despite it's graphic nature, the video beautifully captures the push and pull, the give and take of relationships and love. How we can be cruel to those we love, and the consequences that can bring. 

Speaking on the visual themes, director Ellius Grace says, "I get a feeling of hope from this song, maybe a hope that we create for ourselves so we may go on. A potentially false truth we create so that we may see through the next day, week, month. I see unemotional violence created through rose tinted glasses. From all of this came the idea of how we can look back on our past actions, and only see what we want to see. How we can be cruel to those we love, and the consequences that can bring. 

We tell ourselves that we’ll do better, but this isn’t always as easy as it seems. The closer we get to those we love, the more we are able to do to hurt them. All we can do is live with empathy. The world of this video is seemingly uncaring, with a couple who practice violence with each other. A breaking down of both bodies which is harmful but feels right in the moment. It’s an exploration of what it is to be in a relationship with someone else, what it’s like to love, to co-exist, to know someone else, and how extreme that can actually be."

Watch the video for ‘Things We Tell Ourselves’ here
(Trigger warning: graphic violence, self-harm, injury detail)

Wide Open, Horses is out now via Nettwerk Music Group - listen / buy here

McMorrow is also taking Wide open, horses back to the stage this summer with headline dates across the EU, UK, and North America. Full dates are as follows:

EU / UK:
June 15: London, Barbican - SOLD OUT
June 17: Paris, Maroquinerie - SOLD OUT
June 19: Amsterdam, Carré theatre 
June 21: Berlin, Saalchen
Jul 01: Madrid, Noches Del Botánico 
Aug 02: Waterford, All Together Now Festival , Ireland 

North America:
July 15: Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
July 16: San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
July 18: Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
July 19: Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
July 20: Vancouver Folk Festival, BC
July 21: Sidney, Mary Winspear Centre, BC
uly 23: Red Bird Brewery, Kelowna, BC - SOLD OUT 
July 24: Edmonton, Myer Horowitz Theatre 

Tickets are on sale here

Tracklisting:

1. Never gone
2. Look up!!
3. No one get's what they wanted
4. Stay cool
5. Wide open, horses
6. The day all the lights went out
7. Give up
8. The standard
9. Things we tell ourselves
10. White out
11. Darkest days of winter
12. Call me back
13. Meet me in the garden

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