God of Love
GOD OF LOVE | DO YOUR WORST | RED ZEPPELIN RECORDS | NOV. 5TH, 2021
Bio:
James Burnett, the man behind God of Love, took up the piano at 14-years-old just so he could join his older brother’s band.
“We had a small following in Dallas but by my senior year we were ready to split up,” he says.
Break-ups and make-ups, 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 band mate.
“I had always wanted to take my own solo project seriously, so I decided to take advantage and focus on my own writing which takes on a more dark and brooding tone.”
Dark and brooding it is, but also propulsive and gripping on the single “Take You Seriously,” taken from the upcoming album Do Your Worst by Burnett’s current project God of Love.
“I pulled influences from my teen years for God of Love,” he explains. Bands like Radiohead, The National, and Arcade Fire.” In his twenties, Burnett immersed himself in the work of songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Nick Cave, and PJ Harvey.
“They influenced me with a more singular intensity and an endless well of direction,” he says.
Listeners can hear these sounds layered into “Take You Seriously,” which will feature on the upcoming God of Love album, and older fans may even hear a touch of Echo and The Bunnymen, The Cure, and Siouxsie and The Banshees in the mix.
You look good on me
So I’ll show you everything
I know you're not that funny
So I’ll take you seriously
Lyrically, Burnett also draws inspiration from iconoclastic masters.
“I also had been reading as much as I could and found a lot of inspiration from the likes of Updike, Bukowski, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky,” Burnett says. “This record brought back a darker tone to my music and explored some of the more disturbing and exciting aspects of my own nature and how I see the world.”
The new single and the album to follow arrive on the heels of a period in Burnett’s life that saw him returning to Dallas for a run of hard times. After getting sober and getting his head together, Burnett is now confident in saying that his new music “is now finished and ready to show to the world.”
NEWS:
PRESS QUOTES:
“A delicious blend of swirling new wave and dreamy pop... Backed by an infectious synth groove, the band’s braintrust James Burnett is in fine form... Filled with a dark and twitchy backbeat... Rocks with an undeniably earnest swagger.”
“Perky percussion and stabby synths... there’s definitely an endemic level of sociopathology going on behind that turbulent mix that can’t even be concealed behind the catchy hook.”
James Burnett of God of Love as photographed by Leyton Cheek. Click for hi-res.
James Burnett of God of Love as photographed by Leyton Cheek. Click for hi-res.
James Burnett of God of Love as photographed by Leyton Cheek. Click for hi-res.
James Burnett of God of Love as photographed by Leyton Cheek. Click for hi-res.
James Burnett of God of Love as photographed by Leyton Cheek. Click for hi-res.
“Take You Seriously” single cover art. Click for hi-res.