With his rich, rasping vocals and penchant for darkly passionate songwriting, British singer/guitarist Jamie N Commons delivers a gritty brand of rock & roll that instantly transports any listener to another era. Already counting Elvis Costello among his fans and the UK press drawing comparisons to Nick Cave, the 24-year-old songwriter is now deepening his sound and further warping time by teaming up with Alex Da Kid (the Grammy-winning producer best known for his work with hip-hop game-changers like Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Nicki Minaj). Newly signed to Alex’s KIDinaKORNER, a label under Interscope Records that is also home to Imagine Dragons and Skylar Grey, Commons is gearing up to release an EP and full-length album that wield heady beats and boldly inventive grooves to create an entirely fresh style of blues-drenched rock.
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On the six-track EP Rumble And Sway, Commons serves up a selection of songs that veer from stompy retro-soul to moody ballads to fiery, fuzzed-out pop. Like his full-length debut (due out later in 2013), Rumble And Sway finds Commons backed by the four-piece band he assembled while attending Goldsmiths College in London. The follow-up to Commons’s 2011 debut The Baron (an EP nominated for the BBC Sound Poll of 2012), Rumble And Sway also features leading-edge production from Alex Da Kid, as well as heavy-hitters like Eg White (Florence + the Machine, Adele) and Eliot James (The Futureheads, Bloc Party).
In December 2011, on the way to see Coldplay in Newcastle, Alex Da Kid ended up on a train with several representatives from Commons’s publishers. “They played me Jamie’s music and I fell in love with it right away,” says Alex. “He’s making rock and roll that’s in an entirely different space from anything else out there, and he’s got this amazing voice that can completely transform whatever he sings.” Upon returning from Newcastle, Alex met with Commons in a pub and—about a month later—flew him out to Los Angeles so the two could hole up in the studio and start making music together.
Despite charting new musical territory throughout Rumble And Sway, Commons retains the same rugged spirit that’s instilled his songwriting and performance since he first claimed boundary-pushing artists like Tom Waits, JJ Cale, and Johnny Cash as his heroes. “The swampy, bluesy rock and roll stuff is always the first place I go when I’m writing a song,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s important to me to create something new and different to put out into the world.” For Commons, the formula of straight-from-the-gut songwriting and slick, stylish production allows him to both expand his creativity and fill a highly crucial void in today’s pop scene. “Right now there’s plenty of music that’s got a huge, loud, punchy sound,” he says. “When you bring in that blues element, the music takes on a heaviness and rawness that’s harder to come by but incredibly powerful.”
