James Barrett announced today he will celebrate his upcoming full-length release, “The Price of Comfort,” on Nov. 2 at Stage West, and it will be the culmination of a whole lot of work and experience by the artist — internal and external.

Barrett, 22, of Clarks Summit, along with his band, will be joined by Scranton bands Esta Coda and Alma Mater, with one act to be decided. Admission is $10, and the show is Halloween themed: costumes are highly encouraged.  

The album was recorded in Philadelphia with Honest Face’s Jake Checkoway, with whom Barrett has worked since 2017. The drums were recorded by Barrett’s brother, Tyler, at a studio called the Boom Room. The rest was recorded in Checkoway’s bedroom.

On the record, Barrett was also joined by local musician Doug Griffiths, who laid down trombone and guitar tracks. Aside from that, though, Barrett did the majority of the tracking — guitar, bass and synth.

Barrett said the recording process began last August and didn’t end until this past June, with the mixing and mastering lasting about two months.

Many of the tracks, however, date back two years or more, with one being an incarnation of a riff he wrote in high school.

“It’s everything to me. I’ve never worked harder on anything in my life,” he said. “It was literally my only focus for the last couple of years of my life … having to go to Philly every single weekend for over a year was so exhausting, but so worth it knowing that in the end it would be something like this. It was just so much time I spent on it, it just makes it so much more meaningful to me.”

As for the songs themselves, Barrett said that the record fluctuates in intensity, mirroring his experience during the writing process.

“It just goes up and down which is pretty much how I’ve felt for the last three years of my life until now. Writing it, I had moments where I was up and just immediately down. Every song I wrote was just incredibly different from the one before,” he explained.

“The Price of Comfort” allowed Barrett to breach the confines of his comfort zone, too. It’s his first full-length, full-band record, disparate from his past solo releases, including 2016’s “The Metamorphosis” and “One More,” and 2017’s “Twenty.”

“I just feel like I got so bored of playing alone. I always wanted to be in a band … nothing would ever work out unless it was my own name because I had built such a following under my own name,” he said. “I wanted to just do whatever I wanted to do, but for some reason I always just had some mental limit in my head that wouldn’t let me, I just thought it wouldn’t work.”

A friend then lent Barrett a golden piece of advice in regard to this mental blockage: “F—k it, who cares?”

For some reason, that was just the push he needed.

Aside from the departure from solo acoustic work, Barrett said this album represents a lot of growth within himself.

“It just recaps my entire early 20s. When I put out ‘Twenty,’ I was very naive. Probably a year from now I’ll say the same thing about myself now,” he said.

The album tackles the pain he experienced during relationship problems, the deaths of several friends and family members and Barrett’s mental health in general.

“Dealing with anxiety all the time for my entire life, and actually having things that were going wrong in my life on top of all of that, I was incredibly depressed for so long,” he shared. “And now I’m really not, which is crazy. Eventually I got through it and got better.”

Barrett said the expression of these heavy feelings was served well by a full band.

“I wrote ‘Twenty’ and everything was so depressing, to the point that I didn’t even want to play anything on it. The thing with these songs is, obviously there are a lot of heavy topics, but I can use the actual music of a band to get a lot of that emotion. Last time it was just me. Too sad.”

While much of the lyrical content deals with Barrett’s initial reactions to these painful experiences, everything is recapitulated on the album’s final track, “Everything Will Be Beautiful in the End,” ending Barrett’s tale of heartbreak, grief and isolation with hope.

“The last song just talks about me recognizing I’ve been absent for a long time, but it does get better. The last song ends on a hopeful note. Which is what I love the most about it.”

Pre-orders of “The Price of Comfort” can be purchased at bit.ly/2ZPwofS. Singles from the album can be streamed on Soundcloud and Spotify.

James Barrett announced his release show on Nov. 2 at Stage West for “The Price of Comfort,” which is set to come out on Oct. 11.
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_70147347_2885482944813305_6270495649062453248_n.jpg.optimal.jpgJames Barrett announced his release show on Nov. 2 at Stage West for “The Price of Comfort,” which is set to come out on Oct. 11. Submitted photo | Jennifer Barrett

James Barrett performs with his full band, currently comprised of his brother, Tyler, on drums, Doug Griffiths on guitar, Angelo Maruzzelli on guitar and synth, and Chris Kirby on bass.
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_IMG_3049.jpg.optimal.jpgJames Barrett performs with his full band, currently comprised of his brother, Tyler, on drums, Doug Griffiths on guitar, Angelo Maruzzelli on guitar and synth, and Chris Kirby on bass. Submitted photo | Jennifer Barrett

By Toni Pennello

tpennello@timesleader.com

IF YOU GO

What: “The Price of Comfort” release show

Where: Stage West, 301 N. Main Ave., Scranton

When: Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Nov. 2

$10. Halloween costumes encouraged.