In some cases the best art is born out of letting go, and that is what the new album Love And Desire by James Harries is all about. Known as an expressive voice singer and an honest storyteller, this UK-born Czech-based singer, songwriter, and film composer is back with a record in which he welcomes the imperfection and glorifies pure human experience. Love & Desire, by Tranzistor and Supraphon, features musicians playing in live sessions without elaborate protection and without careful scheduling, and will be released on October 17, 2025.
This creative path was started with an unusual inspirational source a roll of film that Harries son has taken and seemed to be overexposed and uneven but there was some beauty in it that it did not have been supposed to have. This finding led him to drop a refined version of the album and start all over again. The achievement was recorded in only three days, which makes the result unfiltered and authentic and exudes warmth. She goes through emotional desperation with Shivers Down My Spine to the folk-pop radiant Paris and the reflective title song, Harries brings out the issues of love, longing, and the subtle beauty of true human bonding.
It has been twenty years of touring and playing the stage with successful musicians, but once again, Harries shows that authenticity has a long-lasting relevance. Love & Desire is not an album collection; it is an effective reminder of the importance of living in the present and feeling all the emotions. The release is a statement of artistic bravery in its weakness and immediate creative action.
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Congratulations on your new album! Can you tell us the story behind Love & Desire and what inspired its creation?
Thanks! The whole thing actually started with my youngest son who’s recently really gotten into photography. While I was touring a lot in 2024, I’d also been writing and popping into a friend’s studio now and then to record. We managed to get four songs down, and they had this big, polished, almost pop sound
Then I went on a long solo tour around Europe in the autumn. Coming off that, I was itching to get back into a room with people and play live. Around the same time, I went to my son’s first photo exhibition at school. He’d taken a few rolls of film then developed the photos himself in a darkroom. There was something really striking about the way his B&W photos looked and felt. They were imperfect but beautiful.
That was the spark: I realised I wanted to re-record the songs, but live, in a room, with friends. No overthinking, just wanting to create something immediate and fun. I rented a big space for three days, invited a few talented friends down, and pressed record.
The title itself is very powerful — why Love & Desire?
The title song is called Love and Desire. It’s the only song on the record that I’d written a while ago but never found a way to record it.The song looks back at a time when I was in the start of that exciting, all-consuming new love, and how that feeling evolves. How hard it can be to hold onto desire when life gets complicated.
A lot of the other songs, whether sparked by a friend’s messy divorce or just a daft argument, felt like they circled around the same theme. Love and desire, and how they shift over time
What do those themes mean to you personally and musically?
Well, I’m married with kids and on the road a lot. And yeah, being away does make the heart grow fonder. There’s this moment of clarity that comes with distance: you realise you’re still deeply in love, but it’s also easy to lose sight of that in the middle of everyday chaos.
Each album often feels like a snapshot of where an artist is in life. How does this record reflect your current chapter as a musician and as a person?
This time around, I consciously wanted to let go of perfection. Let the songs come together on the spot and not fuss over it too much. Not to overthink it or overproduce it. That’s something I’ve struggled with in the past. This album feels a lot more like how I approach live performance.
What was your songwriting process like for this album? Did it differ from how you approached your earlier projects?
It was very much sitting down with either a guitar or a piano, a pencil and a notebook and writing. In the past I have built songs up from beats and production tools in the studio, but I’ve always preferred pen and paper and seeing where it takes me.
Are there particular songs on Love & Desire that hold a deeper emotional meaning for you? Which one resonates with you the most and why?
There’s a few that resonate deeply. Shivers Down My Spine is one. I wrote it on a long solo drive from central France to Prague after a short tour. I left crazy early, around 5:30am, driving through sleepy villages and vineyards in Burgundy. It was so peaceful and beautiful and I felt like I was the only one seeing it all.
I was full of hope and happiness from the people I’d met at shows and was excited to be getting home and I was aching to share the magical views and joy with someone.
Then this melody came to me and I started to write it while driving thinking of the person I missed the most. I had to pull into a motorway stop in Germany (which was a little less romantic) to sing it pretty much complete into my phone.
The album explores big themes of human connection. How did you balance vulnerability and storytelling in your lyrics?
By trying to make the songs a little more universal. Rooted in personal experience but hopefully open enough for others to see something of their own in them.
You’ve blended different sounds in your past work. What kind of sonic palette did you aim for on this record?
Once we’d set up in the studio we went for some food and I sort of laid down some ground rules: no metronome & only 2 overdubs per song. We broke that last rule once or twice, but the idea was to stay minimal and acoustic. The space we recorded in (a former cinema) really added to the sound. It gave the songs this big, natural warmth.
Collaboration can really shape an album’s direction. Did you work with any new producers or musicians this time around?
Yeah, I asked my friend Tomas Neuwerth, a brilliant drummer and producer, to come engineer & play. We hadn’t played together before, but I’ve always loved his approach to drums and production.
Another friend, Matej Belko, who plays guitar on the record, is also a great producer. So in the end, even though it felt really natural, as if the record kind of produced itself, the three of us shaped it together.
How do you hope listeners will feel after hearing Love & Desire from start to finish?
I hope they feel like putting it on again.
Looking ahead, how does this album fit into your bigger vision for your career and future music?
This record feels like a timely reminder to myself of how powerful and enjoyable it is to keep things simple and human. Connecting with people, capturing a feeling, being present in the moment are reasons I started playing music in the first place.
Something to keep in mind going forward.
