Some of the most honest art comes when you just throw up your hands and stop trying to make it perfect. That’s the pulse of “Love & Desire,” the latest album from James Harries, a singer-songwriter and film scorer who swapped control for presence and ended up hitting emotional pay dirt.

Harries, who took approximately five years to put out his sophomore album, originally began as a solo project after the dissolution of Spread Eagle. He decided that instead of a slick, nearly completed recording, he would toss all of his old ideas and start from scratch. This decision was inspired by a cute moment of childlike ingenuity when his young son found a new-old film camera and shot a roll full of less-than-perfect, over-exposed photos. Instead, he holed up in the studio with some friends and recorded almost entirely live in just three days. No click tracks. No edits. No filters. The result is an album that breathes.

On its nine tracks, “Love & Desire” glows with the warmth of human presence and the bravery to release it. Get push notifications with news, features, and more. Opening with the vulnerable honesty of “Sabotage,” Harries immediately invites listeners into a world in which to be weak is to be strong. On the title track, “Love & Desire,” he treads lightly but with surging intensity, weaving lines about longing, acceptance, and rebirth through stark arrangements that make his voice rich, worn, and human, prominently at center stage.

It’s not the sweat and stink of “Shivers Down My Spine,” which calls to mind a soulful early Van Morrison or the pulse of indie-folk grit heard on “I Want Out” that borrows from the emotional forthrightness of Big Thief. Then there’s “Paris,” a folk-pop bauble that floods hope like morning light post-storm.

Clocking in at a shade under 30 minutes, “Love & Desire” is like that conversation you never want to stop having, intimate, inviting, and raw in all the best ways. It’s about being in touch. James Harries is the voice that whispers to us that beauty lies in the cracks, and sometimes, making it is simply feeling it. But for those who adore deep songwriting, organic production, and the eternal meeting of love, loss, and rediscovery, “Love & Desire” is a record worth living with, listening to over and over again.

To be honest, this is one of the fantastic tracks that you will put on repeat because the album has all the relatable vibes that keep you going. Well done, JAMES!