WILD RIVERS TAP JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW FOR “BACKFIRE (BETTER WITH JAMES)”
February 3, 2025 BY Bailey Vigliaturo
Platinum-selling indie trio Wild Rivers teams up with acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow for a new version of their track “Backfire.” The song, originally released on Wild Rivers’ first companion record, Never Better, earlier this summer, has been reimagined with McMorrow’s signature emotive style, adding a layer of depth to the already poignant song.
“Backfire” explores the emotional complexity of hesitation and missed opportunities in relationships.
Of the track, Wild Rivers shares, “James Vincent McMorrow has one of our favourite voices, and we’ve all been fans of his music since we started the band. We recently met at a writing session and have since played a few festivals together, and we’d always hoped to be able to collaborate in some way. He has a gift of injecting so much soul and emotional sincerity into everything he sings, there’s almost a heartbreaking quality to his voice. ‘Backfire’ felt like the perfect song to ask him to be a part of. We love how he added a new perspective to his verse, turning the song into a conversation rather than one-sided regret.”
“Backfire (Better with James)” blends Wild Rivers’ intimate harmonies with McMorrow’s rich, atmospheric vocals, creating an evocative and soul-stirring reinterpretation of the original.
James adds, “I spent some time in the studio with Devan early last year, her voice fairly blew me away, there’s just something about it that you instinctively believe in when it’s in full flow. I got to meet the rest of the band in Canada over the summer and afterwards a conversation started about me jumping on a song with them. When I first heard ‘Backfire’, to me it sounded like one of those classic country duets, just something in the melody and the lyric that resonated, it’s a beautifully written song. I didn’t have a plan for it, jumped on a mic in my studio one day and wrote an entire second verse basically in a single take. It felt like an instinctual response, melodically, to the first verse and the story they lay out. Also, i’m sucker for a good harmony, excited to potentially sing it live with them one day and lock in on that second chorus.”
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