
T
he solo project, God of Love is backed by the multifaceted James Burnett. Taking up the piano at 14-years-old just so he could join his older brother’s band, James Burnett spent the next four or five years in and out of various bands with his brother and friends, recording two albums and moving to Los Angeles for a spell to pursue the dream.
However, he ultimately decided that he was his own best bandmate, and thus birthed God of Love. Taking the resonated amplification of “Take You Seriously” up a notch, God of Love delves into the gritty and eccentric universe of inimitably crafted music. Pulling influence from The National, Arcade Fire, and Radiohead, you hear the inspirations seep out in a way that solidifies the lane that God of Love has crafted for himself.
With heavy synth layers that thrust through the soothing essence of this record, we’re fixated on the various layers of textured distortion that compose the multidimensional soundwaves heard. Feasting on what we consider to be a spellbinding rush of magnetic tendencies, the intriguing and dark environment that makes itself known is accompanied by the reverberated layers of vocalization that James Burnett charismatically expels from his mind.
“Take You Seriously,” is more than just another song to come playing through the airwaves. With an array of tones that come parading out of the lyrical motifs cast out, we’re hooked on just how seamlessly the intensity is driven up and down as this composition progresses.
Bolstered by the full sounds of each musical component to grace the presence of this single, we’re fascinated with how animated James Burnett can convey the inner finding of his mind. “Take You Seriously,” has us fastening our seatbelts and eager to take this joy ride with God of Love.
Welcome to BuzzMusic God of Love, and congratulations on the release of “Take You Seriously.” Could you please shine a light on why you delved into the particular musical influences you did in order to create this track?
First of all, thank you very much, and thanks for having me. As far as the musical influences, I'd say me and producer, Alex Bhore worked more from an overall atmosphere that we'd planned for the whole record and we kind of went with the flow to take each song and let it live in that world. We had a lot of playlists and artists that helped us get an idea of where we could take each song. This song for me had a sort of Pulp energy. I channeled a lot of Jarvis Cocker swagger and did a lot of unnecessary hip movements when recording the vocals. I felt like that swagger was really important, even though it's a bit desperate, like Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's "Do You Love Me?". It's a dark love song with way too much confidence. So I went to artists like Cave and Cocker, who do that best.
Was your vision brought to life exactly how you imagined it? Working on your own, do you find this to cater to how the ultimate concepts are driven forward?
This song actually began as a piano ballad, but when we started recording somehow it just erupted into what it is now, which I love. I love being in control of a lot of the project but I'd be lost without a producer. In the end, everything came down to me and Alex working together, taking risks, with very minimal outside voices. Often times we'd do a complete 180 on a song and just go with it because that's what we were feeling in the moment. It took a lot of trust on both our parts but it worked out beautifully.
What happens to be your favorite lyric performed in this song? Why?
I personally love: "I think that you're the one/ because you're the only one/ who takes me seriously." It sums up the whole song for me. Just two people who single each other out and look at each other as something special and important. It's naive and obviously not forever, but it's pretty fucking cool when it's happening.
With the complexity of this song evoking thoughts and emotion, what are you hoping that your fan base takes away from “Take You Seriously?"
I want this song to keep people's hearts pumping and let it be the part of the record where they get a break from all the darkness that's prevalent throughout the rest of the tracks. It's like one little naive happy moment of nervous energy amidst the horror. What can we expect to see next from you? The record is finished so we'll be releasing more singles and putting out the whole album later this year. Black Beyond is the next song we'll put out, hopefully in a month or two.