James Charles
Negaunee, Michigan, United States
Music
Press
A BEAUTIFUL SILENCE
Waging War On Myself
Hailing from Marquette, Michigan, James Faccio is the brains, body and heart of A Beautiful Silence. With three albums already under his belt, Waging War On Myself taps into present-day feelings of heartbreak, isolation, and relationship drama in general. “3:30 Of A.D.D.” makes for a curious introduction to Faccio’s world, its techno/synthpop rhythms and repeated refrains of “gonna make you sweat, girl” creating a hypnotic, locked groove ready for the dance floor. However, this song doesn’t necessarily prepare you for the selections to come. If anything, it reveals other influences that make up a part of Faccio’s musical spectrum. This album is largely based around a melodic pop structure, which results in choruses and lyrics that stay with you long after the CD has concluded. The words are sung with an emotive longing and urgency that is naked and unashamed. Play “Give Me A Chance” for an example of this: the propulsive instrumentation pushes Faccio’s attempts to win another’s affections (“He doesn’t love you like I do...”). Even on a potentially silly song like “Girlfriend On Facebook,” you get the sense that the first-person account of this online relationship has some sort of emotional investment. Even so, he still asks himself the same question that many others within the social media phenomenon have asked themselves: “Why, oh why...why do I do these things?” One of the strongest compositions on the album is “You Put The Stars To Shame.” It’s head-over-heels admiration set to light drum machine pulsations and acoustic guitar accents. “The Good Life” is equally effective, its downtrodden everyman musings cradled by orchestra swells and riding a rhythm track that wouldn’t sound out of place on the latest club banging hip-hop track. However, Faccio is able to make this work within a pop context as he sings, “I wanna hear my song on the radio / I wanna see my face on a TV show / I want a taste of the good life.” With songs this memorable and a fierce DIY determination, there’s no reason to believe that such an existence is out of his reach.
{Jason Randall Smith} reviewyou.com
- reviewyou.com
A Beautiful Silence - Waging War On Myself
A Beautiful Silence hails from Marquette, Michigan having formed in 2004 by its sole creator, 22 year old James Faccio. James plays guitar, piano, drums and writes and records all of his own music. In a little over four years, James produced three full length albums, played a countless number of shows and gained a large and growing online presence and fan base.
Waging War On Myself explores various emotions such as love, heartbreak, loneliness, and other emotions related to relationships. For instance on “Give Me a Chance”, the song is about a longing affection for someone who is emotionally unavailable to them. “3:30 of A.D.D”, the opening track, is unlike the rest of the album as it opens up with an electronic/synthpop type sound which reminds you of a song you might hear in a dance club. The other songs on the album are quite different, as they are more pop/indie/rock based with James Faccio’s dynamic musical ability on full display. The melodies in such songs as “Beautiful Girl” and “Give Me a Chance” are really catchy and have a long lasting effect. Overall, Waging War On Myself is a memorable indie gem which every guy and girl can relate to.
Rating: 8.6/10 - The Music Appraisal
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
James Charles (Faccio) was born June 7th, 1986 and is a Singer/Songwriter from Marquette, MI. His music career began at a young age with the purchase of his first guitar with money saved from a paper route. James had a clear talent and desire for music. He played and performed with several bands throughout middle and high school. James' first solo venture was called "A Beautiful Silence" and he released three self-produced full length albums from 2005-2009. After moderate success creating indie/acoustic/emo music with "A Beautiful Silence" James decided it was time to go in a different direction and had attained new influences musically.
In early 2009 he changed his artist name to his given name "James Charles" and started recording a new album. The album was entitled "Young And Wreckless" (Released 11/18/2009) and featured synthesizers, catchy beats and memorable lyrics. With the release of his second full length album "What Is Love" (Released 2/15/2011) James continues to grow as a musician, producer and performer.
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