Comparisons to Death Cab For Cutie, Pete Yorn, and the would-be yupster movement aside, Eric James is in many ways a throw back. Melding the earthy, rock n roll aesthetic of Bruce and his E Street Band with the progressive college pop of Coldplay, Ben Folds and Badly Drawn Boy, James gains a somewhat unique dichotomy: arty pop music without shoe gazing pretensions. While I get a lot of comparisons to Coldplay, which these days seems to go hand in hand with touching a piano at any point in the set, I have a lot of respect for Springsteen, says James. Hes had a lot of things to say and has always found an artful way of saying them.

An element of heart-on-his-sleeve honestly is a fundamental part of James music. In many ways reminiscent of both early and recent U2, this openness allows Eric to explore deeply resonating subjects from an artful but non-posturing attitude.Im a fan of a lot of bands out there who would be labeled as pretentious. I honestly dont really have a problem with them - I just choose not to approach my music that way.

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