James Marrs - Analyse it! (2025)

On Saturday the 6th of September, 1986, Liverpool found themselves a goal down to West Ham United after 9 minutes of play. To make matters worse, their captain, a weathered but still formidable Alan Hansen, had to be substituted in the 17th minute due to injury. Their player-manger, Kenny Daglish, had a decision to make. He looked at the bench and he saw snotty boys, picking their noses and twiddling their thumbs. He then caught his own reflection on the dugout perspex and thought, Kenny, you’re 35 years young, you can still show them what’s what, right? He subbed himself on and proceeded to score 2 goals and Liverpool would win the game 2-5, with these three points proving vital in clinching them the League title.

On Friday, the 11th of April, 2025, Laura Lies In were to find themselves in a pickle. Artist-LabelBoss James Marrs was used to pressure, but not like this. James had previously swatted away countless brand sponsorship, corporate buyouts and high-profile collaborations, eager to get a slice of the Laura Lies In lucrative pie. But as his phone buzzed and buzzed, and he saw the name pop up on the screen, ███ ██████ (the name has been redacted for legal reasons), he knew that this was different gravy. James had no choice but to answer. After a few minutes of solemn and silent nodding, James hung up. He knew what he had to do. He saw his face reflected in the dim laptop screen sat ajar on the coffee table, he saw his face framed by the grid like boxes of his choice of DAW and he felt imprisoned. He needed to break free. He called up his distributor, his agent, and his lawyer and told them. James Marrs has the next release on Laura Lies In, kapeesh?!

‘Analyse It!’ is James Marrs' 4th release on home turf, and his most anachronistically charming to date. There is a dusty hiss that sits through the record, under the record and over the record that creates a beautifully authentic home-brewed nostalgia. On first listen one might assume this is a tape that was sitting in a lock-up for decades, never expecting to find a home until a trendy digger unearths it and gives it a new sold-out life on a trendy reissue label. But it is not from then, it is from now.

The 10 tracks have an outsider quality that can’t be manufactured, faked or forged. It has to come from a slightly skewed soul. And James Marrs, must posses this old school eccentricity, how else could someone make a song like ‘Don’t Fret’?! He sounds like a Shropshire Snakefinger, for goodness sake. On ‘3s and 4s’, Marrs exercises his countertenor delivery which produces a cross between a nursery rhyme and a marching band's dirge. Add in a vocal wobble that is not dissimilar to Renaldo and the Loaf and you’ve got a mighty strange yet moreish track, less earworm, more earwig.

There are plenty of tracks that are dipped in eerie British experimentation with ghostly field recordings of distant chatter and a subdued, sinister psyche. ‘Yan tan tethera’, which refers to a traditional sheep counting system (zzzz), is atmospherically laden with a KLF Chill-Out spirit whereas ‘The 56’ is more of a low-lit, hauntological jam with forgotten passengers of a ghost-bus. ‘Action Action’ feels like a beckoning from another world, an underworld. Menacingly detuned gongs and subtle distant chit chat ensures the sludge stays ever-present and strong.

‘No more special than most’ find James Marrs noodling on his 6-string, with the crackle acting as a worthy partner for a duet. James’ guitar playing features on a number of tracks. On an initial listen, one wouldn’t call him a virtuoso, but like all great art that is beautiful and simple, you’ll get losers saying ‘I could have done that!’, to which you have to reply, ‘yes, but you didn’t! So, jog on!’ James’ guitar playing mingling with his muffled vocals and drum machine loops on ‘Rendered white, anthracite’ is touching and warm.

In true album fashion, James Marrs closes the album with a belter. A pure, unfiltered beauty. Hiss begone, saturation get outta here! Clipping, bye bye! ‘Here and now boys’ is a sun ray breaking through the murky tracks prior, clearing the fog and debris. Red sky at night, synthy delight. The glass surfaces shine with glimmer and the drone takes you up and beyond. Reminiscent of *insert your favourite electronic musician’s epic and melancholy ambient closer on an otherwise abrasive collection of tracks*

It is at times dreary yet always dreamy. ‘Analyse It!’ is eccentric music for eccentric ears; born in the hinterlands, made in the machine. For fans of Anthology Compilation Demo Tracks and Ralph Records.