Following the release of his acclaimed debut solo album, ‘III’, the award-winning British singer-songwriter Jamie Hartman will release his new double A-side single ‘Before I Close My Eyes’ / ‘Buddha Allah Jesus Jones’ on May 21st 2012.
‘Before I Close My Eyes’ / ‘Buddha Allah Jesus Jones’ follows the release of the album’s radio hit singles ‘Happy New Year’ and ‘Girlwise’, which were both awarded the ‘Record of The Week’ accolade at BBC Radio 2 and added to the ‘A-list’ of the station’s coveted playlist.
The singles were followed by the release of the Hartman’s album ‘III’, which quickly became BBC Radio 2’s ‘Album of The Week’ and received numerous plaudits from the UK’s national press.
This latest achievement is a significant milestone in the career of the BMI Award winner and Ivor Novello Award Nominee, as it represents a successful start to Hartman’s career as an independent artist.
During his time as the frontman of successful indie-rock band Ben’s Brother Hartman was signed to EMI. However, just as the band’s career was taking off on both sides of the Atlantic, Hartman and his band were dropped as part of the cull that saw hundreds of artists axed from the label’s roster. Hartman said, 'I didn’t see it coming. We were a successful band with a hit record in the UK and were selling records in America. It was hard to take.'
It was this experience that led to Hartman setting up his own independent record label, Flat Cap Records. Hartman said, 'I’m proud to have started my own label, but I’d never have done it if I hadn’t been dropped by the major labels.'
Hartman launched his label in 2011, a year after moving to the U.S. to build on his career as one of the UK’s top songwriters, where he has since collaborated with many of today’s top acts, including Justin Bieber , Josh Groban, The Goo Goo Dolls, various American Idols and chart-topping Jessica Sutta of the Pussycat Dolls.
Writing the tracks for ‘III’ at his new home in the national park of Topanga Canyon, the album’s title not only represents the third studio album of Jamie Hartman’s career, but also symbolizes life as a family since the birth of his daughter in March 2011, who is the subject of new single ‘Before I Close My Eyes’.
However, the seeds for ‘Before I Close My Eyes’ were sown when Hartman received a phone call from a former girlfriend, as he explains, 'I hadn’t spoken to her for years, but she contacted me to let me know she was just two months from passing away.'
She said 'Write me a song'. The title came to me then - but it felt too close and too sad to write the full song. I waited until my daughter was born and wrote the rest of it as a lullaby. So actually, although it is really bitter-sweet, it signified a new beginning rather than an ending.
Of the single’s ‘flip-side’ ‘Buddha Allah Jesus Jones’ Hartman said, 'It came from the point of view that every single human being at some point looks to something else to hold on to. I think it’s the most open and ambiguous song on the album, which is why I love it the most. Lyrically, everybody takes something different out of that.'
Jamie Hartman’s new double A-side single ‘Before I Close My Eyes’ / ‘Buddha Allah Jesus Jones’ is released on May 21st 2012 on Flat Cap Records.