” - MAGNET

Andrew St James is an 18-year-old singer-songwriter from the fog-enshrouded misty hills of San Francisco’s Twin Peaks. Incorporating a beyond-his-years lyrical vision with a unique gift for melody-making,St James’s music lands firmly in the alternative folk world, but displays a real knack for timeless songwriting skills.

“I am inspired by the odd characters that I call my acquaintances,” St James says of the colorful cast that inhabits the songs on his debut album Doldrums, set for release on September 24th. Hip street folk, Irish immigrants and Mission hipsters star in songs that exist as soundtracks to hard-lived lives. They are tunes that speak with a frank realism and dark sense of humor to kids of St James’s age that are living in a mixed-up world.

“Despite its light qualities, ‘Cassidy’ is a dark song,” he says of the album’s first single, a tune that lives on the fringes of heartbreak. “At the time I wrote it, a former lover of mine had returned to my city. I still loved her, but it was soon evident that she had no intention of seeing me.” Of Doldrums, St James says that “This album is about growing up,” and adds humorously, “Granted, growing up for me consisted of rancid partying, rich girlfriends, and strange mission coffee shop poetry readings.”

The video for “Cassidy” was shot at a variety of gigs around San Francisco, and neatly captures St. James’s raw energy at the Regency Ballroom on Van Ness, Brainwash Cafe, a little bar in Marin County, and on Valencia Street where he spots suspicious street folk and bike lane life-stylers.

Produced by St James himself along with veteran Bay Area producerJim Greer (a platinum record recipient for his work with Foster The People), Andrew St James’s debut album Doldrums will be available this fall.