Videos

Jim Kroft: New Video From Forthcoming Album

• 4th Feb 2014

2013 proved a typically turbulent year for Jim Kroft. After releasing his first two records on independent labels he was signed by EMI. Releasing his first record on a major label was a bittersweet experience for Jim. The album landed in the shops the day before the Universal takeover was finalized in the European Courts, becoming the last ever to be released on the historic EMI label. He also discovered the morning after the record was released that, along with every other domestic EMI newcomer that his album promotion was over.

Downtrodden and reaching something of a nadir Jim set about two tasks. First was the attempt to make life financially tenable. Having developed his film making as a necessary tool as an independent artist, “Kroft Films” was established as both an income provider for Jim and an enabler for other musicians and artists. Gaining recognition in the business place, commissions came in from Reebok, Universal Music, Virgin Media and Laphroaig Whiskey. Second, deprived of the traditional support from a major label campaign, Jim set about a 6 month campaign to recover the rights to his music.

Having raised the funds both through his film making and a recently signed worldwide publishing deal with “BMG Rights”, 2014 finds Jim heartened at the unexpected possibility of finally releasing “Lunatic Lullabies” in his native UK. It is one part Lazarus story, one part a joyful kamikaze ride into the face of the modern music industry. With so little budget, Jim knows the likelihood of recoupment is next to nil. The release is at best a leap of faith, at worst sheer folly. But with a sense of belief in the relevance of music and the power of an idea, he feels it’s a gamble worth taking. Having interviewed the late author Colin Wilson (The Outsider, 1954) shortly before his death, Jim believes it is a time for the underdog as the industry fragments into a splintering system of fan driven ecosystems. In this way Jim is part of a growing society of independent guerillas, moving with mobility and the ability to seize random and unexpected opportunities.

As one of 25 acts worldwide to be invited to play at the American music industry conference Musexpo in L.A, and with the single “Tell Me Where to Begin” licensed for release in the States, Jim continues his muddled career path with, if not a belief in a stable future, at least the firm knowledge that the journey is proving radiantly exciting. Complimenting his ethos and ideas through his written and film work, Jim believes that the current generation of independent artists have a duty to carry the torch while musicians find a way to once again make their career´s tenable. Galvanized by great reviews in Europe from magazines such as Rolling Stone, viral radio play-listing worldwide (currently in America, Poland, Australia, Peru, South Africa and Italy), and underground buzz in the UK, Jim feels renewed conviction in his path since self-exiling from the UK in 2007.

Arriving back then in Berlin, Jim was taken in by the now closed Tacheles Arts Community, a cabal of artist and squatters in the heart of the East Side. There he played a nightly residency in Cafe Zapata (from 2007-2010) – where during the day Julian Assange wrote the code and launched Wikileaks – recently recreated in the film “The Fifth Estate” starring Benedict Cumberbatch. One night The Strokes producer Gordon Raphael saw his band Myriad Creatures play and subsequently recorded their first album.

Jim´s solo debut “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” (2010) was written during this time while living in an abandoned building next to the Tacheles and was released to critical acclaim in both UK and Germany.

Gaining momentum, his next album “The Hermit and the Hedonist” received widespread radio play, the first single becoming the first independently released song to break into the German national radio charts. Jim´s story led to an invitation from TED where he performed and was humbled to share a stage with a panel of international luminaries.

Supporting acts such as Anna Calvi, Peaches, Airborne Toxic Event and Sunrise Avenue, Jim found that his long journey was finally coming to fruition. Enjoying new opportunities in 2013 after being signed to EMI, and touring from Slovakia to Scotland, many of the songs on Lunatic Lullabies were written and recorded in a haze of activity and exhaustion on and off the road. This period of buzz and excitement is reflected in the energy and positivity of a man finally making his mark after many up´s and down´s in the music business.

Recorded in London by Matt Ingram (drummer for Tom Odell, Paloma Faith, Laura Marling) and Dan Cox (Three Trapped Tigers, Fyfe Dangerfield) mixed by Richard Wilkinson (Lianne La Havas, Bombay Bicycle Club, Adele) and mastered by Matt Colton (James Blake, Coldplay) – Lunatic Lullabies is an album containing the full kaleidoscope of Kroft´s life, as he has attempted to make a musical career in a non-English speaking country and a collapsing industry. With its meditations on weakness and strength, language of negation and creation, it is an album where positive and negative are pregnant with one another – and find final housing in the penning of a song.

Lunatic Lullabies is out on April 14th on Jackalope Recordings.