Concert Review: Haunted Continents Clears Hearts At Bowery Electric

Haunted Continents, a.k.a James Downes, is releasing a song a month, and currently fulfilling a residency at Bowery Electric. With a rotating lists of guests, James’ solo endeavors shine as his most thoughtful, self-aware tracks yet. While this singer has always been known for his sensitive lyrics and sensitizing voice, Haunted Continents feels like his proud ownership of such an effect. 

Vocally, Downes is impacting and clear. which makes his tracks like “Modern Love” or “Nothing More To Life” feel like the sonic backdrops to mindfulness. Every single one of his annotations and annunciations felt pristinely planned to be emotional. As he closes his eyes and stands like an unmoving pillar of thought, you watch to see his connection build with his songs. For Haunted Continents, music is 100% personal, and whether he is wording the verses of his friends or jumping octaves mid-song, he feels profoundly connected to music as an entity; as if sound was the equivalent to a healing crystal for his mind. 

Beyond his voice, Haunted Continents soars as a lyricist, which is why he keeps his guitar with a simple chord melody. He is not trying overpower his poesy and how powerfully his voice conveys it. Instead, he treats his songs like a poem he is publicizing to, hopefully, move people into emotional unison. Nearly all of his verses are about having to “Keep Going,” even if you do not want to. In essence, he is lyrically observant of every time you hear, “Because you have to!” Except, now that he is older, wiser, and more understanding that his voice is the heart of his confidence, he sees what this phrase truly means.

As we grow up, we begin to realize that, in life, you simply have to get back up. You have duty to yourself and those you love to not let yourself go, even if the last person you want to keep around is yourself. Haunted Continents’ verses speak to the pain of having to go on living your life out responsibility until one day, through either relationships or self- love, you want to live life out of joy. Thus, Haunted Continents is, actually, hauntingly clarifying. For More Information On Haunted Continents Click Here.