James Stokes is a composer, producer & lyricist from Kingston-Upon-Hull, UK. Receiving a guitar for his 11th Christmas, he taught himself to play and studied music and poetry. While the acoustic guitar is his main instrument, he pushes the boundaries of composition using digital and synthesized element, producing music independently. Using the process of music production and engineering as a platform to experiment with novelty, his creations are diverse in style and original in sound. Currently 23, Stokes aims to produce aesthetic pleasure and cinematic atmosphere from his often-purely-instrumental compositions. Stokes' cited influences include Battles (and the solo orchestral work of ex-frontman, Tyondai Braxton) Paul Simon,John Adam, Joni Mitchell, and Muse in addition to "Anything on WARP records". Stokes recalls the surge of early 'naughties' indie bands helping to mould and shape his musical brain and as a teen his regular gig-going allowing him to embrace the ecstasy and passion of performance and crowd energy. "I sweated so much at a Maccabees gig, I turned my self-designed T into a blank one," he recites.
