Based in Brighton, singer-songwriter Jimmy Herrity has seen acclaim from some esteemed music press, drawing comparisons to the likes of The National, Elliot Smith, Nick Drake and Ben Gibbard. Performing at the Isle of Wight Festival, Washed Out, Neon and Icebreaker, Jimmy now lines up headline shows to round out the year.
Jimmy’s latest release, ‘Lost Boys’ is a heartbreaking journey through loss and grief, the poignance of his lyricism captivating through reverberance production and delicately beautiful harmony.
Gentle, melancholic guitar lines underline his words, falling forward and staying steadfast among warming pianos and softly swelling bass notes. The theme of time slipping away is felt in the melodies, the nearly 5-minute run time having to capture such depth of emotion. There’s an essence of despair in the lack of a silver lining. Jimmy never shies away from the brutal, which makes the sadness even more of a beautiful tragedy.
Jimmy dives into the tracks meaning, “‘Lost Boys’ is about that gnawing feeling of wishing you’d done more with your time, and yearning for something to save you. It’s a reflection on self-doubt, with verses that cascade through uncertainty and a pre-chorus that paints romantic, wintery imagery of better days to come. The chorus—’Well, I haven’t seen much of the sea this summer’—is an analogy for feeling like time is slipping away.
The song was originally titled ‘The Lost Boy,’ but I changed it to ‘Lost Boys’ to note the multiple people we’ve lost over the years, notably my brother and, more recently, a very close friend of the guitarist in my band. We played Lost Boys at his funeral, which added more historical context to the song. It’s been around for a while and seems to keep taking on more meaning. Which is funny because it was already pretty fucking sad.”
‘Lost Boys’ is out now…
