James Vincent McMorrow shares new single “Give Up” featuring his daughter

"Give Up" the brand new single from Wide Open, Horses unfolds as a very special duet, with James and his daughter Margot locking into a disarmingly catchy chant of “Everybody’s sad.”

“I never would put my daughter on a song, unless it was completely driven by her,” he notes. “She just started repeating the line. It was funny and impressive. At the first two shows, it was easily the song of the night at. I think we’re all sad. I can say I’ve spent my whole life staring at the sky and trying to find meaning, but I’m being aware of it at this point.”

“To me, the album is about finding relief from the cycle of life’s pressure,” McMorrow explains. “I don’t think the theory ‘modernity equals better’ holds much water these days. The more technology we add, the more unhappy everyone seems to be. I don’t want to move backwards, but I felt a sense of nostalgia and happiness in the album. It would be grandiose of me to think I could offer you some profound release through words and lyrics, but maybe I can…The job is to make a record I love and hopefully offer a respite. Maybe we can all get back to a life where we aren’t so obsessed with trying to seek out meaning from absolutely everything.”

In 2023, he brought Wide Open, Horses to life—on stage. He booked two nights at The National Concert Hall in Dublin, recorded a handful of lo-fi demos, practiced the material for a week, and then hit the stage. Phones weren’t allowed, but James recorded it to “see what worked and what didn’t work.”

“I literally performed the album before it was recorded,” he smiles. “The whole point was to expose the flaws and also highlight the special little moments. It was an odd experiment, but it worked great. The notion is so simple, ‘Write songs and perform them live’. Without cameras, they were the best shows I’ve ever played—which is interesting because no one knew the music! Everyone was just experiencing it though. I had friends in the lobby talking to strangers. Who talks to strangers anymore? It was lovely. It was a heartening experience for everyone involved.”

Following the release of the record, James will take Wide Open, Horses back to the stage this summer with headline dates across the EU, UK, and North America, including a headline date at the Barbican Centre in London on 15 June.