Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
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My Morning Jacket’s Jim James’ advocacy for local band Floating Action and frontman Seth Kauffman seems to know no bounds. Thanks to James, the band got attention from Rolling Stone, the Grammys, and the New York Times–in less than one week.
On Friday, Floating Action appeared in the New York Times in yet another Jim James interview, this one complete with a photo of Kauffman hanging out somewhere that looks local and green:
Seth Kauffman photo by Sandlin Gaither
James discussed his muses and praised the singer yet again:
I want my music to feel like it’s useful. I’m not an unhappy person, because I have a lot of fun, but I’m definitely not a peaceful person, and I feel like that’s what I’m looking for. Or music that’s bizarre that I don’t understand, like that Floating Action song [“Alpine Shadow”]. I don’t know what he’s singing about. When I hear the song, I feel like I see snow. I’m sitting in the Alps with, like, two snow leopards, and I’m resistant to the cold. He sings, “the calm and peace you bring me.” I feel like it’s one of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever heard. I feel like these bands are singing about things that people need to hear. They’re singing about things that people need, like calm and peace.
Previously, James has co-released Floating Action’s latest record (Fake Blood) on his own label, Removador Records; personally remixed songs from Fake Blood; and performed with the band onstage at the Forecastle Festival in Louisville, KY, James’ hometown. As well as calling Kauffman the most underrated person in music today, he’s called the band’s prior release, Desert Etiquette, “a relatively unknown masterwork of our times. ”
Hat-tip to James for using his celebrity to turn people on to emerging bands making music on their own terms.
